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Jamaican policing expert Harold Crooks was brought to Belize in June to study the Police Department for six months. His job was to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths of the department and develop a strategy to modern. The Police Department today released the executive summary of his report to the media. It is copious: twenty eight pages for just the summary – and the police did not provide advance copies so that the press could ask relevant questions. Instead the Minister and his CEO had their own highlights – and here’s a brief excerpt.

Hon. Carlos Perdomo, Minister of National Security
“93% or 94%, I forget the exact numbers, of the recommendations were given the go ahead which we will try to develop over the next few years.”

Gen. Lloyd Gillett, CEO – Ministry of National Security
“Recommendation 32 which was to have an Assistant Commissioner of Police from Barbados and one from South Africa assist the Police Department in developing new policies and strategies. We have asked Foreign Affairs to engage with the South African government to see if they would be willing to sponsor an ACP in Belize to assist us.

The Ministry has gone ahead and formed an added implementation and development team comprised of me, the Commissioner of Police, ACP Whylie, ACP Jeffries, and Ambassador Lawrence Sylvester to meet regularly and follow implementation of the recommendations.”

The Ministry has committed to releasing the full report to the media at an unspecified time. When that happens we’ll have a more in depth review of the findings.