7 News Belize

26 New Trucks For Police
posted (December 1, 2016)
Police formations all over the county got their fancy new rides today. 26 of them rolled into the city in style yesterday but they were officially handed over this morning at the ITVET compound. These 2017 Isuzu D-max trucks are some of the best, most well-suited trucks the police department has gotten because of their durability and high end features. Today I found out how these trucks will improve police work countrywide.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
By now, most of these officers are familiar with the dazzling interior of a brand new vehicle, the sturdy feel of the gear shift and the smooth slip of a new steering wheel but, they will have to learn a thing or two about the high tech features of these brand new 2017 D-Max trucks.

H.E Carlos Moreno, US Ambassador
"These vehicles are equipped with GPS real time tracking, communication systems, dash board cameras that I am sure will have an opportunity to see some of those lights flashing like I saw yesterday."

And all 26 of them were blasting and flashing in full force today in the ITVET compound for the official handing over ceremony.

Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
"13 of those will be deployed to Belize City area: 7 on Southside and 6 on Northside. Additionally a vehicle will also be assigned to all the various formations countrywide and two of those vehicles are also going to Belmopan police formation."

But the handing over and vehicle placement are only the initial stages, the most important part is making sure these trucks last.

H.E Carlos Moreno, US Ambassador
"As to these vehicles I will say 3 things to bear in mind, maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. This is not just a transfer of money and assets, it really an investment in citizen security for the country."

And to ensure these vehicles are kept in shape, a 1 -2 year maintenance program has been included in the donation package. But the Belize Police Department also has its own system in place.

Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
"There are a number of mileage whenever those vehicles reached those mileage, the commanders have already been tasked that those vehicles will be brought in to the agents who will be responsible to do the routine maintenance. We've also developed a memorandum which each of the commanders has signed in terms of ensuring how those vehicles should be controlled and maintained and our expectations on them."

But besides all the technicalities, the focus remains on enhancing police work on the streets.

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Minister of State - Police
"You know one of the greatest assets we can have is our human resource. But human resource at the end of the day requires mobility in the kind of work we do as a police department and that mobility in terms of getting a boosts like these 26 vehicles today will without a doubt go a long way in ensuring that our officers can respond to calls of incidents or to reports that they received on a day to day basis and thus in the short medium and long term, be better at what they do as law enforcement personnel."

As you heard, 7 vehicles are going to the Southside and 6 will be deployed to the North side. 2 of them have already been deployed to the Belmopan formation. These 26 vehicles come at cost of $US833,000. There is also talk about an upcoming donation of motorcycles to the police department.

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