And while he took time out to share a plate with his former fellow officers, in his new role, CEO Bennett says he has been busy immersing himself into his new role, which began with a walk through of the gang affiliated communities in the city, with his minister and other high ranking police officers.
Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs
"So yesterday we had the opportunity to walk through Belize City on the invitation of the commissioner of police; he had members of the Leadership Intervention Unit and members of the GI3. He was explaining his crime fighting strategy and he was demonstrating this to us on the ground so the minister and myself had the opportunity to walk through some of these gang ridden areas, we were able to get a better appreciation of the environment where the LIU and the GI3 are required to work and we were privy to see some of the boundaries in-between these groups and they were able to explain how they manage to intervention unit and how they implement these programs. So the minister was able to interact with those people in the community and he was able to go inside of houses. He was able to introduce himself as the new minister responsible for police so I think that went a long way. For myself I had a very good appreciation of the challenges that the police officers face in performing their duties interacting with these gang members but I was also pleased to see the initiatives from the LIU being put in place. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the persons that are part of the LIU and he was explaining to us that he had a carwash program and this was all an initiative from the LIU where they financially support him to develop that business and he is able to runaway with that."
"So we were able to see first hand the impact that the LIU is having in Belize City, so that was a good orientation for myself and the minister."
