Public Encouraged to Report Police Abuse to Professional Standards Branch

The police officer who was involved in an altercation with a civilian over the weekend at the Belize City municipal airport has since been placed on interdiction. According to Minister Musa, the department has been working to educate officers on the proper use of force. He encourages citizens to report any case of abuse at the hands of a police officer to the Professional Standard Branch.

Kareem Musa, Minster of Home Affairs

Kareem Musa

“In relation to the police officer, like I said, I am very disappointed in the actions of that officer. Ever since the Laddie Gillett incident, we as a department have done training. We have sent out our legal department to the various precincts across the country, to educate our officers on the use of force, because it can be argued that a lot of our officers in the past were not properly trained. I am not speaking of our recent recruits because we revise the curriculum. So, we have to go back and train all of our officers on this use of force policy. But again, we are dealing with human beings. At times they get frustrated. We don’t know what they are going through in their personal lives and sometimes they go on a frolic of their own. And, in instances like that we as department and ministry need to act very swiftly. I am glad to see that the young man in that particular incident has gone in to make a report to the Professional Standard Branch. That is what I encourage each citizen to do. Every time there is an instance of abuse committed against you, please report it to Professional Standard Branch, because that is where the process starts. That is where you go and then go on interdiction as a police officer. This officer will go in interdiction because of this.”