It's a video that whipped around the internet faster than a speeding bullet: on Saturday night, footage of an American tourist being cuffed and taken away by Belizean police for the crime of failing to wear a mask went viral then some.
It's the kind of video that could threaten the trip advisor rating of the entire country, a final rapture in what's already a tourism armageddon.
And, this morning Cherisse Halsall spoke to Commissioner Chester Williams about the mini PR fiasco and how it was handled.
It's the video that stoked outrage on Saturday night, A tourist strolling on the beaches of Caye Caulker and munching on some take out is told that she's about to be put under arrest.
Tourist
"Do you see that I have food in my hand, I am eating. You see it right, this is actually Recinos."
Male Police Officer
"My name is Reynaldo Bol."
Tourist
"I am eating my food while I am walking."
Male Police Officer
"Kindly get on the gulf. Sir, can you step a little more back if you want to video?"
Female Police Officer
"Ma'am, kindly get on the gulf cart."
Tourist
"No. If you are eating, if I am eating I dont have to. Nope."
Female Police Officer
"Lets go to the police station Ma'am. I'll put this handcuff on your hands. Come."
Tourist
"No."
But she wasn't locked down for long
Because ED Region 4 Commander Chris Noble quickly brought her plight to the attention of the Commissioner, and he directed her release.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I did see the video footage on social media and I spoke to Mr. Noble, as well as the two officers in question and from my understanding is that the officers had passed moments before and they saw the tourist without a mask and they had warned the tourists about not wearing a mask and subsequent to that the officers returned and the tourist was still seen without wearing her mask and based on that the went and warned her to wear her mask and she went off on the officers. Now let me make it clear that the quarantine regulation that is currently enforced do not make any provision for persons who are eating and drinking in public not to be wearing a mask. However as a matter of our internal practice we have advise our officers that if a person is eating or drinking in public or any public space, then we must exercise our discretion and so it was in that light that I had said that the officer may have overreacted and could have used their discretion but equally it must be understood that the tourist must abide by the law and the officers even in the footage that you see, the officers did try to exercise some level of patience in how they dealt with how."
Tourist
"Is this the way you treat American travellers?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"She was very crafty in what she did because she actually took the piece of meat and said i'm eating, i'm eating and so that captured the attention of the Belizean people, and so the Belizean people reacted the way they did towards the officers and we understand that."
Indeed the Commissioner is well aware of the PR implications here, and says that snuffing out tourism is far from his department's goal. He also pointed out the obvious that you can't eat while wearing a mask but cautioned the public not to abuse that caveat.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"At the end of the day we don't want to promote an environment that will not be conducive to our tourists especially in a time like this and so we must to some extent ensure that we exercise some discretion when we encounter persons, whether they are tourist or not and they are seen eating or drinking in public because as a matter or judicial notice one would have to lower their mask in order to eat or drink and yes while some would say that you can go an eat in a restaurant or whatever, not everybody can eat in a restaurant especially now where most of the restaurants are providing for takeout and while yes we do say that if your drinking yes you can take down your mask, that only applies to drinking water or medicine, it does not apply to drinking liquor or anything of that sort and while we also speak of eating, it does not speak to eating a sweet, like one would suggest a lollipop or eating a chips or whatever it must be that your eating some sort of food."
And when it comes to accommodating Belize's guests the commissioner admits that officers could do with some training.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"You know that will keep you going so we have discussed with several persons who have agreed to offer the police officers in Caye Caulker some customer care in the tourism industry so we are going to take up those officers but at the end of the day, I don't want it to be seen as if the officers were completely wrong because they were not."
Williams also told us that with tourism being a major contributor to Belize's GDP the cops must be sensitive to the situation, and strive to create an environment that, despite the pandemic, remains hospitable to tourists.
