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As you are aware, he was not accusing just another officer, he was accusing the commander of the Belize Coast Guard, and so Assistant Police Commissioner Chester Williams handled the investigation into the complaint personally. Today, he gave a press briefing to say that there is no evidence to back up the officer's accusations. Here's how he explained why:

ACP Chester Williams, OC - Eastern Division South
"Mr. Randy King who is a petty officer in the Belize National Coast Guard had made a report to us that on 20th April, 2017, he was summoned to an office where he met with Mr. Borland who is the admiral of the national coast guard and in that meeting threats and other insulting language were used to him. he indeed requested court action into his complaint and we have launched an investigation into the matter based on directives that we have received from the commissioner of police and that investigation have caused us to record statements from persons who were around when what Mr. King claimed to have occurred took place. Mr. Borland was also brought in and interviewed and he also gave a statement and from our investigation we have found that there is no merit to Mr. King's complaint and Mr. Borland statement has been collaborated by the statement of others who were present, to the effect that Mr. King was merely brought in before the commander of the coast guard about a matter internal within the coast guard and he was reprimand and no threatening language was used as allege by King and our investigation have also revealed that as well."

"So based on investigation, there is not sufficient evidence to proceed to lay charges against Mr. Borland or anybody per say in respect to Mr. King's complaint."

Reporter
"Mr. King said that he has 2 witnesses. Were these 2 witnesses interviewed?"

ACP Chester Williams, OC - Eastern Division South
"Yes the 2 witnesses were interviewed, they were brought in. One of them refused to give a statement and he have a right to give statement or not. The other gave a statement and his statement collaborated the story of Mr. Borland."

So, is this just a malicious complaint? That's what the press asked the Commander of the Eastern Division South, and he says that he is unable to say so conclusively, but he said that he tried to be fair to both parties, even offering to mediate the dispute between the Officer King and Admiral Borland. He says the Admiral showed up, but King didn't:

ACP Chester Williams, OC - Eastern Division South
"I had even gone further to set up a mediation between Mr. Borland and Mr. King, to see how we could the two parties to be able to understand each other better. Mr. Borland who is the commandant of the coast guard, he showed up for the mediation session, but Mr. King didn't show up. Even though time off was given to him from work to appear for the mediation session. He went about his business. So it would appear to me he have no interest to be able to try and resolve the matter amicably. I am here to be fair to people who come to us in making complaints and I have exercise fairness with both parties where this complaint was concerned."

At the time of our interview with King last week, he swore to us that 2 officers saw the entire incident unfold, and he claimed that one of those officers was willing to back up his claims. Well, police say that they spoke with both those officers, and one of them gave an account which supports Borland's innocence of any abuse of threats. The other officer chose to remain silent and avoid giving any statement.

So, we asked the commander about the possibility that these officers were intimidated by the prospect of speaking against their boss. Here's how he answered that one:

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"It could be that exactly that is being allege here that this is a malicious complaint from Mr. King, but it could also be that this officer - this is the admiral, this is his boss, why would be speak against his boss and their stories lined up because he doesn't want to cause any friction for himself. Have the police and yourself considered that possibility?"

ACP Chester Williams, OC - Eastern Division South
"We have looked at that and one thing we must understand is that the police, the coast guard and the BDF are 3 disciplinary organization. We are all governed by our respective statute, our acts and so forth and under the statute of each of these organizations, it does give the commander of the coast guard, the commissioner of police and the commandant of the BDF authority to discipline any officer who step out of line and from our investigation Mr. King was one of such officer who had step out of line and he was brought in to be spoken to by the commandant and again, when we looked at the course of action with respect to disciplining an officer, there are several course that one can take; one can be place on disciplinary charges and be taken before, in the case of the coast guard, the services commission. In the case of the police, they can go before a tribunal, if it's a junior officer. A senior officer goes before the service's commission and in the case of the BDF, junior officers go before the commander of the BDF and senior officers, before the service's commission. And the outcome of those tribunals can be a fine, can be a dismissal and can be a reprimand, but an officer like Mr. Borland, the commandant of the coast guard, can choose not to take an officer before the services commission and can reprimand that officer verbally and from what our investigation is revealing, that is what he did. The officer had committed a breach of discipline and he brought him into his office in the company of senior officer of the coast guard and simply verbally reprimand the officer for his misconduct and that is well within the ambits of the coast guard regulations and again, to answer what you have said, I would want to think too that if Mr. Borland wanted to threaten Mr. King or to use defamatory or derogatory language to him, he would not have brought him in in the presence of other officers. He would have did it to him alone."

We tried reaching King for comment this evening, but we were unsuccessful.