And while the blockade was certainly the most tense and volatile part of the past week, it ended without any casualties or injuries. The ComPol today commended his officers for showing restraint, and said that is the kind of policing he encourages. And in the end, the caneros cheered him on for his work over the last few days. The commissioner was all smiles as he received the kudos last night, but today, he passed on the praise to the prime minister.
We start with him basking as he took a bow under the cane farmers tent last night:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"First I would like to say a big thank you to the prime minister and the Northern caucus who I must say spent countless hours trying to negotiate a resolution to the issue. I don't need to speak for the prime minister but I think the comments being made that he was doing nothing was unfair because the truth is I watched him up till late with his team trying as best as he could to arrive at a compromise between both parties who were at a stalemate and it was a very good feeling to know that something was crafted out and it was presented to the association and its members and they were willing to accept that compromise. So it was a relief. We know that people were getting antsy, after all, the sugar industry is the livelihood of the people of the north and perhaps they saw what was taking place as a threat to their livelihoods and because of that, as law enforcement, we had to be patient. We cannot just be heavy handed because we have the powers to do so. I have always said to my officers that we have to police differently in the 21st century, we have to be able to use more brain and less big stick and once we do that, I am certain that we are going to get good results, we are going to get the respect of the people."
"It was extremely good to see that at the end, the caneros were able to appreciate the work of the police and mores it shows that the police are respected and appreciated."
And this protest was very much unlike the one in 2009, when a canero from San Victor was killed in the chaos. Of course, that was another time, in different circumstances, and under a different commissioner, but the always politically attuned ComPol pointed out that it was also under a different government.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well the different style of leadership, different government, 2009 was under a UDP government. My philosophy have always been and if you were to check my track record since I became commissioner, I have not had any stand off with anybody. I've always tried as best as I can to employ diplomacy. I think that that is always the best way to go. Yes, we must have a contingency in the event that diplomacy fails but I am happy to say that diplomacy has always worked under my tenure as commissioner and there has been no need for me to deploy, some may want to say the bulldogs, into the fray of what is taking place. We have always been able to quell things by speaking to people and employing different tactics and that's how we intend to move forward so long as I am the commissioner."
Courtney Menzies:
"Comparisons have been made to the situation, the standoff with the stevedores when those rubber bullets and tear gas were fired. was that a learning situation for you guys, did you go back to that when you were dealing with these caneros up in the north?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well that was not my instruction, I was the commissioner then and believe you me, I teared who needed to have been teared because they went totally against the instruction I had given. You will recall that we had an issue with the stevedores when I was commissioner in the early stage of my tenure as commissioner and I dealt with that matter quite easily by communicating with the stevedores, speaking to Port of Belize and were able to quell that. I don't believe that we should use the big stick approach as our first response to any issue. We must give people a chance, we must exhaust all other options before we go to the big stick approach."
