Yesterday we showed you a San Pedro cop caught on camera cursing, kicking and pistol whipping an alleged suspect. Since then, there has been no official report on the matter coming out of the police department, but Sergeant Devon Makin said on social media that he believed he was doing what was best for his safety.
Today the Leader of the Opposition called out the BPD and the ComPol for dragging their feet since he believes there should be immediate disciplinary action taken. But he also theorizes that the reason there has been silence is because of Makin's relation to the Commissioner.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I understand that the gentleman in the video is the ComPol's godson, I think Officer Makin. I know his father, his father is a good officer, long serving senior police, retired and these things are never personal but we have a responsibility to correct behavior that is reprehensible and the response of the officer that, oh, he's away from his family, and basically he's frustrated is a red flag. He needs counseling, he needs help. And more importantly, he needs discipline because if this type of behavior is countenance by the police top brass then we are in trouble as a nation. So we in the UDP and in larger society reject this type of excessive use of force and we condemn the behavior and we condemn the silence of the Belize Police Department top brass. I have seen in other instances where the ComPol will have police officers arrested immediately and to not even condemn the actions of Officer Makin is very appalling. So we call on the top brass to take immediate action to discipline this officer because there is no excuse for pistol whipping someone who is a suspect, allegedly. They said that the suspect was armed but yet the officer walked away from the suspect to chastise someone that was recording him and so this type of behavior cannot be countenance by top brass."
We asked the commissioner for comment but up to news time he had not responded.
