Stay away from gangs, drugs, and crime, and stay in school. Those seem to be easy goals for any young person, but when you factor in peer pressure and poverty, it can become a challenge for a lot of young people living in marginalized neighbourhoods.
So, that's why the Police Department, realizing the scope of the problem, launched its Gang Resistance Education and Training. 95 children have passed through the program which has been running for a few years, and today, we got to meet a few of the police officers who've been trained to be youth advisors. The Commissioner of Police and the US Ambassador to Belize told us that they see the benefits, and are excited to continue the initiative
Allen Whylie - Commissioner of Police
"This was the third graduating class for the Belize Police Department with the 35 new officers who graduated today, we have approximately 150 officers trained in the Great Programme, we also have three international trainers and we have another constable who is about to complete his training and also be the fourth international trainer so the Great Programme is here to stay within the Belize Police Department, it is a very beneficial programme that has police officers going into the various schools and imparting their knowledge in terms of teaching young people, students how to resist peer pressure, how to handle peer pressure; how to deal with issues of gangs and drugs and a lot of the other social issues that normally affect young people."
"We've seen where students who have gone through the Great Programme, there has been improvement in their grades, confirmed by students, their parents as well as school administrators. We've seen where parents have spoken highly in terms of the change in the lives of their kids who have successfully participated in the Great Programme. No programme you will 100% success but I think its a very beneficial programme and it will continue to expand in Belize."
H.E. Carlos Moreno - US Ambassador
"The Great Programme is a programme that the embassy has been supporting for at least the last 5 years. We've trained over 130 officers to work in the schools. The officers are assigned particular schools where they enter the youth and encourage them to stay away from gangs. They involve the students in other activities, field trips and was mentioned earlier it's really essential that the kids have an adult mentor. Someone they can turn to resolve problems, to teach them good citizenship skills and basically to keep them away from gangs. The government of the United States is very happy to support this kind of programme over the years."
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