Lord Ashcroft COVID-19 Relief Fund Donates $60,000 to Police Department

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers are singled out as frontline workers who are working around to clock to keep the public safe. But the police department is also on the forefront of the fight against the virus as they are responsible for enforcement of the state of emergency.  On Tuesday, the Lord Ashcroft COVID-19 Relief Fund donated an additional sixty thousand dollars to the Belize Police Department to assist in the purchasing of gloves, face shields and masks for its officers. This latest donation is in addition to a sum of fifteen-thousand-dollars already donated to the department for the purchasing of face shields. Belize Bank’s Chief Operations Officer, Martin Marshalleck handed over the most recent cheque to Williams.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I want to say thanks to the Michael Ashcroft Relief Fund and Belize Bank, as well as Atlantic Bank, S.S.B., Benny’s for the contributions that they have given to us since we entered into the state of emergency. As security forces, we require a lot in terms of P.P.E.s. I know the government has been procuring P.P.E.s, but what they have procured is for the health workers. And so we, the security forces, we have to see how we can procure our own P.P.E.s and these things come with a cost. We have been able to raise funds through these organizations to purchase. Each officer now has a face shield; each officer has been issued with a box of gloves; each officer gets their face mask because the mask must go under their shield. And these things are very costly. I can tell you that we got two hundred thousand pieces of gloves and that cost over eighty thousand dollars alone. We should be getting another two hundred thousand pieces between today or tomorrow.”