No Area Rep Recommendation Needed to be Recruited as Police

A number of officers have been dismissed from the Belize Police Department for various infractions and Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has said that this has been happening on a routine basis. And then, the number of police officers is nowhere near the level for the department to effectively operate.  So last week, a notice was issued for the recruitment of one hundred and fifty police officers for Intake Number Ninety-six. Public Service Minister Henry Charles Usher says that he supports the expansion of the police department and that applicants do not need recommendation letter from area rep.

Henry Charles Usher

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service

“I certainly support that it shouldn’t be that you get into the police because your area rep writes a letter to you. That’s not what our law calls for. There should be an open transparent equal opportunity for everyone to apply, take the test and hopefully become a part of the recruited team. It is a very small; I think it is a hundred and twenty-five people or maybe less; one-fifty. The last time, five thousand applications came in so sometimes it is difficult to really get them down to that amount. In terms of the discipline and the dismissals, well that’s something that is being dealt with at a department level, by the police. What I can say is when we look at the total number of police officers countrywide, it is below what is necessary to effectively carry out the work of the police which is why the Minister of Police had requested to cabinet that we have another recruitment; I think number ninety-six.”