Coast Guardsman’s Charges Against Boss Have ‘No Merit’

John Borland

Last week, a petty officer at the Belize National Coastguard, Randy King filed a complaint against his Commander, Admiral John Borland. King claimed that apart from verbally abusing him inside an office, the commander threatened his job and his life. The petty officer sought criminal charges against the Commander and had requested legal action against his boss following the incident that purportedly occurred on April twentieth. The results are in and while ACP Chester Williams did not venture to say that King’s allegations were malicious, he confirmed that there is no merit to the claims.

Chester Williams

ACP Chester Williams, Regional Commander, Eastern Division South

“On the twentieth of April 2017, he was summoned to an office where he met with Mister Borland who is the Rear Admiral of the National Coastguard and in that meeting, threats and other insulting language were used on him. He indeed requested court action into his complaint. We had launched an investigation into the matter based on directives from the Commissioner of Police and that investigation caused us to record statements from persons who were around when what Mister King claimed to have occurred took place. Mister Borland himself was also brought in and interviewed and he also gave a statement. And from our investigation we have found that there is no merit to Mister King’s complaint and Mister Borland’s statement was corroborated by the statement of others who were present to the effect that Mister King was merely brought in before the commander of the coastguard about a matter internal within the coastguard and he was reprimanded. And that no threatening language was used as alleged by King and our investigation has also revealed that as well. So based on our investigation there is not sufficient evidence to proceed to lay charges against Mister Borland or anybody per say in respect to Mister King’s complaint.”

According to Williams, disciplinary organizations such as the Police, the Belize Defense Force and the Coastguard are governed by respective statutes in which the Commanders are given the authority to discipline officers who step out of line and the investigation revealed that King had committed a breach of discipline and he had been reprimanded for his misconduct.