And while it may seem like the cops have their hands full with missing persons and other major crimes, the ComPol explained that some of his officers have volunteered to join the mission to Haiti, if there is need for them. He told us that they have the necessary training and that they're willing to help because one day Belize may need assistance in return.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes, officers have approached and said that if they should be a deployment here, they would like to go. Again, police officers are aware that when it comes to the nature of our work, we're subject to be deployed anywhere across the country. And if it needs to go and do peace mission in other countries, then that is the case. Every year we have Operation Tradewinds and Operation Tradewinds do prepare the member state for situations like this in the event that they need to gather troops from different countries to go and assist other countries."
"And while some of us might look and say, why go to Haiti when we have our own issues at home? We must understand that we have our own issues that could eventually lead to us requiring our counterparts or our neighboring countries to come in and assist us in the event that, let's say for example Guatemala."
"And so we cannot sit and say that we should not help because it is not our problem. Sometimes other people's problems could end up becoming ours and sometimes we may find ourselves in positions where we would need assistance from others. And if we are not willing to assist now. What would then trigger other countries to assist us if or when we need assistance? So we need to strike a balance in terms of what we see and decisions that we would make."
"But at the end of the day, it's a matter for the prime minister to decide if in fact police officers are going to Haiti. And if that is the case, when and how much police officers, as a commissioner of police, I would yield to the directives given by the prime minister, who is the chief in this country in terms of the deployment of security forces."
"In America, they say he is a commander -in -chief, right? So we abide by instructions."
