Police Perform Poorly in 2019 Promotion Exams
There is disappointing news coming out of the Belize Police Department tonight, where hundreds of officers who sat last month’s promotion exams have failed to meet eligibility to move up in rank. The exams were sat countrywide on May fourth and officers interested in being promoted to corporal, sergeant or inspector were given one month during which they were to prepare for the test. The news is that only one hundred and ninety-four officers are eligible for upward mobility within the department. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
With approximately three thousand officers currently enlisted in the Belize Police Department, this arm of law enforcement sees the highest employment within the national security apparatus, more than the Belize Defense Force and Belize Coast Guard combined. Each year, hundreds of men and women across the country sit an exam which determines their eligibility to ascend in rank within the department. This year was no different. On May fourth, a total of eight hundred and sixty-nine officers sat the papers. While some of them will be promoted in the weeks ahead, a majority of their colleagues were unsuccessful in passing the annual test. In fact, their performance was underwhelming, to say the least. Under the orders of the Commissioner of Police, the results of the examination are to remain confidential. Notwithstanding a leak of that document, however, we found it imperative to share with you, our viewers, the outcome of the assessment.
The following is a breakdown of their accomplishments by district and rank, beginning with Corozal District where forty-two officers took the exam. In an effort to move up in rank from sergeant to inspector, two officers sat the exam and failed. Eighteen corporals also took their respective tests to become sergeants, but only four passed. Of the twenty-two constables who participated in the assessment, nineteen of them failed the test. In Corozal District, roughly eighty-three percent of persons who sat the police exam were unsuccessful.
In Orange Walk, all four sergeants who opted to take the test failed. Of the twenty corporals who aspired to be promoted to sergeants this year, only eight of them passed. Likewise, of the eighteen constables who sat the papers last month, only two realized their goal of being eligible for the promotion. Seventy-six percent of all officers who took the exam in Orange Walk failed.
In Belize District where most officers are deployed, the results are even more abysmal. Only nine of fifty-four sergeants qualify to become inspectors this year. Even worse is the number of failures among corporals who sat the exam to become sergeants. Twelve of them passed, from a hundred and fifteen officers who took the test. In Belize District, many of the officers who took the exam were constables. A hundred and ninety-seven of them flunk the test to move on to corporal. In all, seventy-eight percent, or three hundred and forty-five police officers, fell short of their goal to be promoted.
The second-largest number of police officers who took this year’s exam come from Cayo District, where seventeen of them failed an aptitude test to become inspectors. Only twenty-three of seventy-seven officers will become sergeants and a hundred and thirty-nine constables failed to move up to corporals. Like Belize District, seventy-eight percent of all officers who took the exam in Cayo failed.
Lastly, seventy-four officers from the Southern Region sat the exam and only twenty-one of them passed to become inspectors, sergeants, and corporals, in a top-down system of ranking. Overall, only one hundred and ninety-four officers who took the 2019 Police Exam passed, which represents twenty-two point three percent. The remaining six hundred and seventy-five of them, the equivalent of seventy-seven point three percent failed.
In speaking with a few officers confidentially, News Five was made to understand that there are several factors that must be considered, such as the degree of difficulty of each exam, as well as the preparation, or lack thereof, of the candidate given his or her daily shift and workload. The volume of information to learn and retain during a four-week period ahead of the assessment, we are told, is also a bit too much. Aside from the myriad reasons why officers did so poorly on the test, it is a bigger concern from a civilian perspective. After all, these are the men and women who are tasked to protect and serve, as well as maintain law and order in our society. If they are not up to speed with the theoretical aspect of policing then it raises serious concerns about their ability to carry out their jobs efficiently. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
