BPD Now Accepting Nominations for Police Association Candidates

Elections for a new executive of the Belize Police Association are coming up and a call for nominations of potential candidates has been announced.  This evening, News Five spoke with Commissioner Williams about the upcoming elections, as well as several welfare concerns that have been raised by members of the association.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We are accepting nominations for candidates who may wish to vie for being members of that association.  The closing date, I believe, is the end of this month after which if there is only one slate that seeks nomination then that slate is endorsed, but if it is more than one then we‘ll have to go to an election.  That election is normally held in January.  In terms of your second question, at this time we are, the association is not in the practice of collecting fees from members.  I do agree that over the past two years there may have been a number of funds collected by way of membership fees from the members and those monies should be in an account.  We are still waiting for the account to be audited, after which then, if the association so wishes, it may resort to going back to collecting fees from members.  Let me say that that has nothing to do with the commissioner, that‘s a totally separate account from the consolidated trust that the commissioner would control when it comes to the police budget.”