Police Officers Graduate from GREAT Training

Carlos Moreno

Forty police officers joined the ranks of the GREAT program – short for Gang Resistance Education and Training – following a graduation ceremony this morning at the Radisson Hotel. Guest speaker was U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Carlos Moreno. He told us that programs, like GREAT, are an example of the revamped strategy toward community policing that has made officers closer to the communities which they protect and serve.

Carlos Moreno, U.S. Ambassador to Belize

“Law enforcement today – and as was said by others here today – is much more than arresting and taking people to jail. Many times officers are the first responders, the first ones on the scene; they are many times acting as social workers really, to resolve conflicts in the community – not just with the youth but just domestic violence situations, and trying to resolve those without getting involved in the justice system; so this is a key component to what is known as community policing; kind of a different approach to law enforcement, something that we think works in communities like Belize and we are very happy to support it.”

GREAT officers are assigned to more than fifty schools countrywide where the program is in operation. It was established nearly five years ago.