Last night we showed you footage from the elections from the police
association. In what may be a record turnout, over one thousand cops
voted at precincts and stations throughout the country for the 7 person
executive to head their welfare body.
And, by 09:30, the winner was apparent. The slate led by Sergeant Jane
Usher had won any a landslide. Usher and her slate were elected with
almost three quarter of the total votes. It's and impressive win, and
today, the two who topped the polls, Usher - who was second with 729
votes and Sergeant Jermaine Hyde who was first with 734 votes spoke to
the media about their mandate, and the job they've been tasked to do:
Sgt. Jane Usher - Elected, Police Association
"It's all about the people and we focus our efforts on them. We spoke to
them, we listened to them, we heard what they had to say and we committed
to working for them. We want to create inclusivity; we want to bring people
along with us."
Jules Vasquez
"You have an unusual slate in that, a department that's male dominated, I
don't have the exact figure but I would have to think 90% of the department
is male. I believe that 5 members your executive are female, am I right? So
explain to me what type of leadership, one of the only groups in Belize
where a representative group would be led by predominantly women. What sort
of leadership style, do you think this will create?"
Sgt. Jane Usher
"Male or female, it's the person that they voted for and what that person
can do. I think women are considered leaders that care and in order to
address welfare issues, you would need some compassion and some passion. In
terms of a leadership style, I would say we will have to be an inclusive
style. We have a minority representing a majority, so while the women might
be the minority, we do have male representation on our slate."
Sgt. Jermaine Hyde
"We set out and we campaigned throughout the country. We went to all the
formations, all the stations and we rallied the police officers, we talked
to them and we told them what we had planned and we intend to do in terms
of welfare and a team effort in terms of the voting. We are happy that we
got the support that we got from the membership, in terms of the members of
the association which is the sergeant, constable and corporal, those are
the people who voted in the election yesterday. They came out in full
force, we got for the first time, so many people participating, so many
police officers participating in the election, which showed us that people,
they are ready for us to work for them and they spoke and it's time for us
to act."
And while that message of unity and inclusivity is encouraging, the
fact is a welfare association sometimes has to clash with leadership to
advocate for its officers.
We asked the leaders of this new executive if they are ready to do
this:
Jules Vasquez
"Sometimes when you are advocating for welfare, you have to have an
adversarial relationship from time to time with the senior command. If your
membership is saying, we think our welfare means that, we're not to be
working 12-hour shifts and then the senior command said, well I'm saying
you should work 12 hours shifts. How do you handle something like this,
where you all are really supposed to work in concert with the
commissioner's office?"
Sgt. Jane Usher
"Well, I think that we are here to represent the issues and concerns that
are affecting the people. If you have leadership that will not listen, then
we will work unhappily but at the end of the day, the police officers
joined a department and we have to work together for a common goal. While
we have to make many sacrifices as police officers, I think those who join,
know the sacrifices that they have signed up for but it's our job now as
the board, to represent them and to compromise and work together to achieve
an amicable solution. Only unity will get us forward, so we have to
represent them well and if that means standing our ground in certain
situation, we need to stand our ground, but we also need to be effective
persuaders in terms of getting leadership to listen."
Sergeant Usher says their first task is a countrywide tour.
|
