And while the new trucks are going to the furthest reaches of Belize, the department has voiced concerns about the vehicles patrolling the nation's cities and towns.
Last night on the news we showed you the viral footage of old and broken down patrol cars that the police are struggling to maintain.
The COMPOL says it's a stark reality one that they're trying to handle one vehicle at a time. Here's more.
Cherisse Halsall
"Today we're here to celebrate the donation of all these new vehicles but there are reports of vehicles on Patrol without lights, no working lights, how can you be on patrol and be upholding the law when you're not upholding the law?"
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"These vehicles will be assigned to the mobile Interdiction team, the trafficking in Persons Unit, and the training support team so these vehicles are not going to form part of our patrolling fleets of vehicles, you would know that we have been complaining about vehicles and the government is trying it's best to give us vehicles. We do understand the economic situation we're in that the government cannot say we are gonna purchase so many vehicles for the police one lick. So, incrementally we're getting them and we'll be able to get the fleet that we should be getting hopefully very shortly, but yes we do recognize that the current fleet of vehicles is dilapidated and efforts is being made to replace them and at the same time while we continue to use them efforts are being made to ensure that they are kept roadworthy. And yes like you said some of the vehicles, the lights at the back have fallen out and it doesn't matter how much we try to put it in it falls out again because of the fact that the vehicle has depreciated the question is that, do we prefer to see the police officers going and responding to people's complaints despite that deficiency or do we want them to just park the vehicles and don't patrol and don't respond to people's complaints simply because they don't have a light at the back, it's a tough one, we do understand that vehicles must have lights at the back and we don't want police officers to be out there breaking the law when we should be enforcing the law but at the end of the day when the situation arises then the police must respond by whatever means they have available to them to respond but I can assure you that we are working our best to rectify that issue and hopefully when we get our new vehicles we will be able to get those out of circulation."
