And while the Belize Defence Force Volunteer Element gets ready to bring back home their young cadets after their first annual camp, the police force is busy wrapping up its thirteenth annual gathering. This time the police youth cadets were hosted in Orange Walk Town where over two hundred children between the ages of seven and seventeen years old spent the past week involved in sporting and educational activities. According to the officer in charge of countrywide community policing Senior Superintendent Miguel Segura, they expected the attendance to be far greater. But still, he explains why they were grateful for the number who did show up.
Sr. Supt. Miguel Segura,
“I don’t consider it a large number. Actually most of my instructors are happy we have a small amount. We have 269 police youth cadets here with the exception of Independence and Punta Gorda. We were expecting a total of 475 for this camp. Countrywide we have a total of 836 Police Youth Cadets active. We have over 1,000 but active 836.”
Amini Aldana, Police Youth Cadet
“I like it. I am proud of being a cadet.”
Sr. Supt. Miguel Segura,
“We are trying to instill with them all those respect, responsibility, discipline, values, attitudes, and this is what actually the youths need in order to mold them and become better citizens for tomorrow. We are looking at issues that are actually affecting our youths of today, gang violence, truancy, conflict resolution.”
Walter Tut, Police Youth Cadet
“It’s fun because every year we get to go to different districts in annual camps and sport camps.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
And what you like about the camp, what is it that you do?
Walter Tut,
“Play sports. The most thing I like is parade and physical training.”
This year, the police youth cadet summer camp was originally scheduled to be staged in Punta Gorda but due to the recent floods in the area and the destruction of the Kendall Bridge, the venue had to be changed.
