B.T.L. donates phones to rural police

Even as communication technology continues to advance, some Belizean communities have had to live with the fact that contacting the outside world is still not as easy as picking up the phone. This not only applies to homes, but even rural police stations. In a joint effort with the Ministry of National Security, today, Belize Telecommunications Limited handed over equipment for twenty-seven police substations, an investment of fifty thousand Belize dollars. Minister of National Security Jorge Espat says the new communication lines not only give the substations access to the rest of the country, they will help local communities fight crime.

Jorge Espat, Minister of National Security

“I think it certainly improves the effectiveness of the Belize Police Department and certainly I think it satisfies a basic requirement that the citizens must have and that is to keep in touch with Police Stations, as well as Police Stations being able to respond to the needs of communities.”

Ernesto Torres, Chief Operating Officer, B.T.L.

“The ones that gave us a lot of trouble were obviously, the ones in Punta Gorda where some of these villages were very remote. The other districts were fairly straightforward in the sense that we were able to use radio-telephone equipment to link us back, link the substations back to our main sites in the district towns.”

The fixed cellular and radio link phones were installed for free but the Government of Belize will have to pay for usage. By next month all twenty-seven rural substations will be able to use the new equipment.