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He discussed that and the issue of public safety yesterday:...

Jules Vasquez
"Beyond all these administrative issues is the central issue that people continue to feel increasingly unsafe across Belizean society particularly in the city."

Doug Singh, Minister of Police
"And I don't expect that is going to change overnight, installing Doug Singh as the new minister of police and public safety is not going to change that. Putting me there was to ensure that the systems be put in place that somewhere down the road we have a better system. If anybody perceive that me being there or any other minister of police would have change the situation over night I think that a false expectation. On one side there are certain things we can do, of course we can take a hard line approach and go into these neighborhoods and try to pull everybody we can and lock them up. You will only be able to hold them for so long and that will only quell the situation temporarily. But if I start to put extreme pressures in certain neighborhoods where these crimes repeat then the crime will start to be in everybody else's neighborhood. in other words the worst thing we need to do in policing is to take a rock and throw it in a small pond because all we will do is displace the water. We need to be able to contain the situation where it is and deal with some of the problems. We certainly cannot deal with the problem if we then displace it all over the city; it becomes a far more difficult task."

"Now to deal with the immediate issues could be a knee jerk reaction. Its necessary to try to contain those situations but the public expectation of an immediate reduction from 33 murders per hundred thousand to maybe 23 murders per hundred thousand which is a reasonable expectation is not going to happen overnight."

Jules Vasquez
"There is a history of hostile engagement that the police officers go into the communities as the worst gang, the strongest gang, the gang that's able to carry guns legally."

Hon. Doug Singh
"It's a twofold problem, the police goes there with a aggressive attitude and when face with other aggressive attitude they react exactly the opposite, in others words you almost provoke the situation. In some cases we may have to bring in officers from the districts who are strangers to the Belize City environment and who are not familiar faces in these neighborhoods and perhaps we may be able to start a different relationship because the antagonism exists and experience and the expectation of antagonism is there and we have to do something to change that but that is part of I think we have to work our way into that."

Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Crispin Jeffries, he has been under fire for many quarters and in a sense that goes with the job that inevitable whoever leads the department will come under fire. Although in many regards he is a polarizing figure, however are you satisfied with his leadership of the department?"

Hon. Doug Singh
"I think the criticism of Mr. Jeffries comes from the fact that he takes an on hands approach, he gets on the frontline I mean this was experience during the riots, and I had first had experience with Mr. Jeffries, he wasn't Commissioner Jeffries at the time. It's a style of management that is very different from his predecessors certainly the previous commissioner was not that kind of individual and did not get that kind of criticism pointed to him. I don't think all of what is said about Commissioner Jeffries is correct and fair but I think some of what is said about Mr. Jeffries is correct and fair. We don't all have the same management style. I am not exactly oppose to Mr. Jeffries management style, my problem is it at this point I am not sure it is very effective. Within a department that is already demoralized that is already using to the kind of pressures they are getting and not performing. Applying more of it will not necessarily get better result or different results and I have said this to Commissioner Jeffries. We have to engage in a complete different system of management. Mr. Jeffries has had this conversation it is entirely possible that Mr. Jeffries may not even be believable in a different style of management system. And if that is the circumstances then Mr. Jeffries may not be the right person to be the Commissioner of Police, those are the evaluations that we are going through and we are looking at alternative means."

"I am not the kind of person that walk in a environment and says yes; this is what happens; this is not what happens, but if it gets there and Mr. Jeffries is very much aware of it that it will serve the department and the country better if Mr. Jeffries is longer the commissioner of police, he is a gentleman enough to say that 'I will step aside' and that is the understanding that we have. And I respect him for that."

Jules Vasquez
"There is a new commissioner in Trinidad I think he took office last week. They brought in a Canadian with extensive law enforcement history to take over their department. Is that something that you will be prepare to look at to bring in "foreigners" to take over the police department."

Hon. Doug Singh
"Yes I would, absolutely I think it's one of the alternatives, as a matter of fact I think if we decide to go down that road I wouldn't even want to look at one. It should be more like a management team because the department is large this is not a very small department. There have been other exercises in the Caribbean where foreign managers have been brought in I think in the case of it might have been Antigua they actually 3 or 4 people to work within the department because it's not sufficient enough to just be at the top. There is a lot of undermining that can occur and resistant to change that can occur against one individual to expect that that one individual can come in and make a difference is not so possible it's not so even plausible. But its more than just bringing a foreign individual to head a police department, there must be the support systems in place, the government must be willing to address the recommendations of those individuals when they identify them, for example; resources, the police fundamental under resource."

Jules Vasquez
"Do you feel overwhelm slightly when you look at the scope and the breath of the problems in the department that you are now becoming familiar with?"

Hon. Doug Singh
"I am not so sure that I am overwhelmed. I think I expected it to be a huge task, I think what is coming clear is that the dimensions in each of these elements seems to be a lot more than one would expect. In others words it's easy to talk about solutions. We can talk about solutions and say 'this is an easy fix', 'this is all you need to do, line em up and shoot them,' for argument sake, 'do this', 'fire them' it's not that easy; you try to fire a cop. The systems in place, just to get approval tom pay something is a bureaucratic exercise and I came from the private sector I am not use to that and I understand the reason why it's there. I have to find ways to work around the system. To legally work around the system and to get the task done and that's why I am put there. There are so many different dimensions, the answers aren't black and white and the questions aren't black and white, so in that sense yeah, it's not over whelming but its certainly far more intricate, it has far more leaves and branches than perhaps many anticipated."