And back here in Belize, senior officers of the Belize Police Department are participating in a two week developmental training session that kicked off today in Belmopan. The officers are formation and regional commanders and they are being trained to be better leaders, a skill set which the police department is often criticized for lacking. Today, the Director of Training for the department explained some of the skills they will be learning.
Senior Supt. Leslie Wade, Director of Training, BPD
"This morning we have just opened the first cohort of the senior officers development training for the Belize Police Department. This is a training that has long been overdue. For long we have heard that senior officers need training in management, leadership skills, and so we have decided and we have developed a list of training that we believe will assist our senior elements of the police department in doing management and how they lead their subordinates within their entire Belize Police Department. It is a training that we believe is well overdue, it is a training that we believe that senior officers, once they've been taught, what will be taught for the next two weeks, would definitely assist them in how they manage their formation."
"Training in the area of leadership, how do you manage crisis, we also look at communication skills, we also look at training in the area of how do you manage assets, we also look at training at how do you manage human resource, and there are several other topics that will be taught here in the next two weeks. And we have experts from within the police department, we have our very own commissioner of police who will be here lecturing, we also have the deputy commissioner of police, Dr Rosado, who will also be here, and other senior officers and we also have educators from the University of Belize who will also come here and impart their knowledge."
The training is for two weeks - and when the first session is finished - a second will be held for their deputies.
The training is the first of its kind in Belize.
