Rogue Police Officers Facing Criminal Charges

Chester Williams

Investigators have forty-eight hours to gather enough evidence and criminally charge the two police officers. The police constable has already been slapped with the disciplinary charges of allowing a prisoner to escape from lawful custody and bringing the police department into disrepute. According to Commissioner Williams, the constable, along with the inspector, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a criminal and internal investigation.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The inspector and the constable are detained currently and they are being interviewed just like any ordinary prisoners. If it is that at the end of their forty eight hours we are unable to uproot or unearth any evidence to charge them criminally with anything they will be dealt with internally in the interim. I have directed that the inspector be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of criminal and internal investigation. Internally, we are looking at one, allowing a prisoner to escape from lawful custody and two, bringing the department into disrepute. The constable has been placed on disciplinary charges for those two offences as well. They would know that as the Commissioner I can allow or direct that the constable be charged. When it comes to the inspector it has to go to the services commission. So our legal officers or our legal office, is in full operations, ensuring that we put together the relevant documents to submit to the services commission as early as Monday of next week to commence this where the inspector is concern. We want to say to the public that as a department we are not perfect. We do have officers who tend to operate on a folic on their own but once they are identified we would ensure that we do what needs to be done to either get rid of them or have them disciplined. They should have ensured that he was not a part of that team. As a matter of fact, he had been relieved of his duties in Dangriga and was suppose to report to Belize City on transfer from Monday. So he should not even have been working in Dangriga anymore. He has been relieved on transfer. So why was he in Dangriga?”

Hipolito Novelo

“So is there any protocol that would support an officer of his rank to remove a detainee into the field of an interview?”

Chester Williams

“Well he was the most senior police officer on the grounds and being the most senior police officer there, he had command and control. The constables or the corporal couldn’t tell him that he can’t take the prisoner. The other officers who were on the island are cooperating in the sense that they are giving their statements and explaining what they saw took place and what they heard. The main persons of interest are the inspector and constable who went with the detainee.”

Reporter

“And is that constable cooperating?”

Chester Williams

“No he is not, no.”

We’ll keep following this story.