Police Association Retains Attorney over Vaccinations and COVID tests

And while our fears that the Delta variant is present in Belize have been confirmed, today the attorney for the Belize Police Association, Dickie Bradley told News Five that sending home police officers for not presenting their COVID vaccination cards or a COVID negative test result may be worse than not. Bradley was making reference to instructions from the police top brass to all commanders to send home officers who do not comply with the request.

On the Phone: Dickie Bradley, Attorney for Belize Police Association

“The police are not allowed, because of their role in the society, they are essential service, they are doubly essential in Belize society and at this time because we are experiencing an assault of violent crime and murders all across the land. So the law is that frontline workers, which include the police, are to get vaccinated or show proof that they do not have the COVID virus.  They can only do that if they go and get a formal test. And the Statutory Instrument that governs that particular matter requires that if you are not vaccinated and you are a frontline worker you are to bring a test every two weeks. On Thursday – I’m not where there’s a calendar – on Thursday of last week, sometime around 4:20, written instructions were sent out to all police formations, commanders and all those in authority over other police officers. The written instructions repeated what is in the law, referred actually to the Statutory Instrument and then directed at police officers, police men, police women who report for duty on Monday, the ninth day of this month August must show proof that they have been vaccinated. If they have not been vaccinated. If they have not been vaccinated they must show that they have taken the test.  You can’t tell an organization of over two thousand police officers that among their members everybody must come Monday morning who’s reporting for duty with either a vaccination card or the result of a test. Yoh can’t bring in that yoh gone tek the test. Yoh have to wait til yoh get thre result. So they felt that there is no way that hundreds of their officers could comply with that instruction.”