So, as you heard, the shutdown of the prosecution branch immediately takes 55 cops off active duty. And then there's also COVID troubles at the Interpol unit in Belmopan.
The Commissioner laments that in total 130 cops are off active duty due to COVID concerns:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Prosecution Branch alone has a staff of 55 persons and all of those persons are currently in cell quarantine and some of them are in isolation. We are not taking any chances. We want to await the test results from the Ministry of Health and then we'll see who can come back and who cannot come back until a certain time and it's not only in Belize City Prosecution Branch that we have this issue, I can tell you that the entire Interpol staff in Belmopan are also out on quarantine, because members of that office also tested positive. So, we have no Interpol officer right now as well. These are some of the challenges we are going through."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How much is the total right now that are unavailable for duty, because of either a positive test or self-quarantine?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It would be around 130, more or less."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Wow! I see why you di hold yuh head. Is there an estimate of what percentage under capacity you are right now in the department with all the demands on policing that there are?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well, you would know. The demands for policing has increased significantly due to Covid and we are losing a lot of officers to natural - so you see that we are losing numbers at a very rate and we are not recruiting. You would know that the circular that came out from the Ministry of Finance restrict the ability of any department to be able to fill any vacancy that may arise and so while our numbers continue to dwindle, we are still expected to perform at a very high level and I believe that over the past few months since the advent of Covid it has brought out the best in some of our officers where we are seeing more commitment, more dedication to duty and so we just got to keep on pushing, we cannot give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we just got to continue pushing until we reach that light."
