CEO Lovell Says Lambey Should Not Have Been Alone

The B.D.F. report into the incident revealed that Staff Sergeant Lambey was alone when he was ambushed by seven Guatemalan men, and the patrol he was leading came on the scene after. News Five asked Lovell if the shooting, a clear and deliberate attack on a Belizean soldier, will cause the B.D.F. to revise, or perhaps expand, its military operations in the area.

Ret’d. Col. George Lovell, CEO, Ministry of National Security

Col. George Lovell (Ret'd)

“I think we certainly have to look at what had occurred in this particular incident to say if we will do things differently. Certainly we will not allow one person to go off without having the kind of support he would expect from his fellow comrades in order to provide the kind of safety and security of individuals that are out there on patrol. We certainly have to revisit that. Because clearly from the report that we’ve seen it would appear that the distance that the Staff Sergeant may have been away from the remainder of his patrol may have led to it…I do not want to say led to it because we don’t know. We have to look at these things and then decide how best we deploy our forces on the ground going forward. I don’t think that it’s fair to say that we would change because this happened, because why change something if it was good, just that somebody employed it I a wrong way. We need to visit, revisit the occasion. We have to take each incident by themselves, analyze what occurred and then decide how we go forward. I think the BDF is doing that and it’s a tactical application that the Commander BDF will have to speak to…honestly.”