Police Commissioner replaced
He assumed the post of Police Commissioner in November of 1996 and during the nearly three years that followed the career of Ornel Brooks has been nothing less than a roller coaster. The ride ranged from the dramatic highs of multi-million dollar drug busts to the lows of tainted evidence, coerced confessions, corrupted cops, daring daylight crime sprees, unsolved murders and the kind of police brutality that makes the treatment of Rodney King by the LAPD look merciful. In the end the lows proved overwhelming and today Brooks was removed from office — retired in the language of the civil service — and he will be given a new job as Director of the National Drug Abuse Control Council. While pressure has been building on Brooks from even before last year’s change of government, in the end it was his failure to control his own police force that brought him down. Last week’s death of prisoner Daniel Tillett, allegedly at the hands of police officers in the nation’s capital, was the final straw for a Minister of National Security who could no longer give Brooks and his men the benefit of the doubt. Today Brooks’ deputy Hughinton Williams took over as Acting Commissioner. He will be assisted by two assistant commissioners, Carmen Zetina who will be in charge of Administration and Colonel Hugh Cain who will oversee anti-crime operations. Cain retired as the deputy Commandant of the Belize Defense Force to take on the job. Francis Baizar, who until today had been the Director of NDACC has been moved over to the Ministry of Education to implement an anti-drug education program in the schools. Permanent Secretary Allan Usher told News Five that Brooks’ retirement was prompted “in part” by public criticism over his job performance, and that reviews are being carried out on the whole command structure. He says that over the next fiscal year, things will “start coming together” with some major reorganizing of the police and the Ministry of National Security as a whole. He says the next change to come on stream will be the establishment of exams for promotions for all levels of the police force. With respect to the addition of Colonel Cain, Usher said he brings a great deal of military training and discipline to the job. His post in the B.D.F. will be taken up by Major Cedric Borland, the commanding officer of second battalion at Fairweather Camp in Toledo. And what of the incident that prompted all the reshuffling? Police report nothing new in the investigation into Daniel Tillett’s death on Independence Day. On Friday, Constable Jesus Canton was charged with his murder and the officer in charge, Aaron Guzman was interdicted from duty. In today’s statement the Ministry of National Security expressed its “outrage” over the incident, its condolences to the family and the assurance that justice will be done.
