Is Police Department Top Heavy?

The United Democratic Party continues its onslaught of criticisms against the Briceño administration for its handling of the crime situation in the country. That charge is being led by former Minister of National Security Mike Peyrefitte who has repeatedly called for the resignation of the sitting Minister of Home Affairs.  Beyond the call for Kareem Musa’s head is the state of the Belize Police Department which is described as overburdened with highly placed officers. A third Deputy Commissioner of Police has been appointed and there are as many as ten Assistant ComPols within the department. The issue of crime, nonetheless, persists.

Michael Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte, Shadow Minister of National Security

“We saw yesterday when the Security Services Commission approved, among other things, three deputy commissioners of police. So we have three now, one for legal affairs, one for administration and one for operations. We have ten assistant commissioners of police, ten. The department is top heavy and nobody is feeling that level of leadership from the police department. Changes have to be made, this is not personal but it’s not working. And the numbers don’t lie, from January to April for 2021, we had thirty murders. January to April 2022, we have forty-three murders, twenty three of them in Belize City. We are on pace to have thirty-nine more murders this year than we had last year and we are not talking about the couple of murders that have occurred in May already. There’s just a sense of lawlessness and a lack of control.”