Police officers in fourteen villages will this week trade in their two wheeled bicycles for motorized three wheelers. This evening the new Indian Ambassador to Belize Bhatia Kuma officially handed over 16 of the Bajaj three wheelers to Commissioner of Police Gerald Westby. The vehicles will be used by officers in rural outposts. Westby says while the vehicles aren't ideal for high-speed village pursuits, they will be put to good use.
Gerald Westby, Commissioner of Police
"The fourteen will be donated across the country in the major villages for the rural police to use to move around in the village. They are very economical with gas so we are certain it will go a long way in terms of getting mobility in these rural police stations. Some stations now have as much as two policemen so that will facilitate their movement and responding to people's reports in the rural areas. If you notice, one police officer is sometimes stationed in a particular village but he is responsible for two or three different villages so he can move from one village to the other."
The donation is valued at US$7,000 each. Two of the donated vehicles will go to the Belize Defense Force. Westby says the Indian government has also helped the department technically. He says currently two police officers are in India studying fingerprinting. A third officer is there studying information technology management.
