BAPDA Says Ableist Officers Should Be Terminated
The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, says he is tired of answering for police officers’ stupidity. This is after a video of police officers mocking a mentally challenged man went viral on social media. To make matters worse, the video was recorded by a police officer inside a police station. The Belize Assembly of Persons with Diverse Abilities is demanding that the officers be reprimanded. According to Williams, the Professional Standards Branch is investigating. Britney Gordon reports.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
The Belize Police Department has come under fire after a video of several officers mocking a seemingly disabled person started circulating on social media. The video depicts a man being told by officers to remove several layers of clothing while they jeer at him from behind the camera. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that this behaviour is inexcusable and not reflective of the views of the department.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I really wonder what goes through the mind of some police officers, honestly. And I reach a point at times where I just try to answer for the stupidity that they do. And it is rather frustrating. As police officers, we must ensure that we uphold The rights and dignity of every person, regardless of who they are, and When we have police officers take advantage of a person with diverse disabilities, it does not look good.”
Williams claims that the department has been taking action to provide better sensitivity training for officers regarding disabled citizens.
Chester Williams
“We have been doing a lot with the Human Rights Commission. We have done a number of training with police officers. Every police officer across the country have been trained in the human rights norms. We even got some booklets printed through Dr. Coombs and were given out to police officers, explaining the fundamental rights of people. So when we have things like this, it is inexcusable because it is not what we stand for as a department and I have directed that professional standard branch deal with the matter as swiftly as they possibly can. We must set an example for those officers because we do not want to see a repetition of it.”
Marion Ali
“But what immediate measures, penalties, charges even, can be brought upon them having seen the recording?”
Chester Williams
“Certainly, the first step is to identify exactly where it happened, who was on duty… That process, I believe, has been established. Once that has been done, then the disciplinary charges will follow and then we go from there. I cannot preempt to see what is going to happen. Again, as the final arbitral of the matter, I do not want to see things that may be seen as preempting an outcome. So it will be a matter for the tribunal to decide and whatever the tribunal decides as a Commissioner of Police, if I feel like it is reasonable, then I’m going to stand by it.”
While the Commissioner stated that the repercussions of the officers’ actions are yet to be determined, President of the Belize Assembly of Persons with Diverse Abilities, Kenrick Theus, says that the only reasonable course of action is the termination of all parties involved.
Kenrick Theus
Kenrick Theus, President, BAPDA
“They share these things in little silly chat groups and then from there it’s out and about. Everybody gets it now in our case on this particular matter now, what we’re asking for is for the termination of any and all officers who were involved or can be identified to have been involved in this matter. Because, first of all, why was it videotaped? Why was it videotaped? Was there any, maybe, I could understand videotape if there’s bruises on the, maybe it’s a rape victim, you have to take pictures of the bruises, and I could understand that. So it was obviously videotaped for fun. They were making a mockery of this gentleman, and then they recognized he was mentally ill, and they still continued to do so they need to be terminated, because sensitization training will only go so far with these people. We are wasting time saying that we train them for this and we train them for that. It’s not taking effect. So maybe if you fire one or two or three of them, maybe the message will go out a little bit faster that government is serious. Organizations such as ours, that we are serious as well, and we will make a noise and lobby against it whenever it happens.”
Britney Gordon for News Five.
