Women Police Officers Charged for Appearing on OYE

A pair of police constables who were recently victorious in a claim against the Belize Police Department has been charged for appearing on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes morning show a few weeks ago.  WPC Alleeya Wade was one of several claimants in whose favour the Supreme Court ruled that she was lawfully permitted to wear her hair in dreadlocks.  In the wake of that ruling, Channel Five invited Wade and other officers to appear in a segment of the show to discuss their ordeal as officers in the department.  As it turns out, police officers are forbidden from speaking to the media on matters relating to the department without the permission of the Commissioner of Police.  On February twenty-sixth, Wade received a letter from Internal Affairs reprimanding her for violating the department’s social media policy.  Aside from this latest development, earlier today, Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, spoke about wider implications of the court ruling.

Dolores Balderamos Garcia

Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development

“I don’t know what the orders and the disciplinary procedures and regulations of the police department are, but certainly in terms of what happened in the case, I think that Belizeans should agree that we should not be placing very restrictive rulings and provisions on how people should wear their hair. Once ih neat, once yo wash yo hair, once yo noh got hair lice, once you respect the order and discipline of where you are, I think we should be able to wear our hair in a natural way because that is a part of our identity. Everybody of African descent in Belize, including myself because I have all kinda blood ina me, everybody should respect the cultural values and approaches of everybody else.”