This morning in Belmopan, almost three hundred police officers and civilians were awarded for their service to the department.
The officers were given various awards corresponding to their years of service, and the discipline they've shown. While we often hear of bad cops facing tribunals, these are the ones who have never been brought up on any disciplinary charges.
And they were recognized for their exemplary conduct and performance at a ceremony held at the Police Training Academy this morning. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.
More than two hundred officers donned their ceremonial dress uniforms today to be recognized for their years of distinguished service. They have been in the force for decades and while the job of a cop can sometimes be discouraging, demeaning, and all around difficult, the Commissioner of Police explained that these awards serve as a morale booster.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Today what we had was the recognition of officers for outstanding service in the police department. We had several categories of awards, we had the long service award which is for officers who serve 18 years and over having not been in any disciplinary charge or conviction within that years of service, and then we had the first class which is awarded to officers having completed 25 years of distinguished service, second class for officers having completed 30 years of distinguished service, the meritorious award service and the distinguished award service. So again those are awarded to police officers who have performed exemplary work with gallantry over the years as a police officer."
"It serves as a boost of morale for officers, I think this is something that officers do look forward to and in the planning stage, we had a number of officers who had called and said, my name is omitted and these sort of things, which means that officers do look forward to it and we make sure that we did the due diligence that we award those who are entitled."
And while the Belize Police Departments is frequently under a negative spotlight for using excessive force against civilians, the ComPol emphasized that there while they're weeding out the bad cops, there are hardworking ones that deserve more attention.
Chester Williams. Commissioner of Police
"We live in a society where the negative is always given credence over the positive. I've always said to my officers that to every bad a police man would normally do, there are hundreds of good that other police officers are doing. But the good that we do is never highlighted, only the bad that we do and it was with that spirit that I said to the PR office that there is a need for us to be more aggressive in selling the good that police do. And I would wish that the media would help in that respect the same way you are always quick to highlight the bad, which we have no issue with, we'd also be happy if you can also highlight the good that we do. It's not an easy task for police officers, many times our duty is extremely challenging, sometimes we find ourselves in situations where damn if we do and damn is we don't, and we have to try as best as we can to make the right call."
And there are also those cops who didn't make it to the ceremony - those who have been killed in the line of duty or in traffic accidents. There was a moment of silence to honor their service, and the ComPol pointed out that one cop in particular, Superintendent Henry Jemmott, should have been on the square getting his award as well.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It's a time for us to also recognize and give thanks to those fallen officers. Certainly, their service did count prior to their passing and it was only fitting that we took a moment of silence in their honor as well as in honor of the queen who passed away last week and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the families of those fallen officers for having loaned them to us during the time they were with us, and for the exemplary work that they did and certainly yes Mr Jemmott, had he been alive, he would have been one of the awardees as well today."
And it wasn't just officers who received awards today. More than 50 civilians from the community and the justice system who have worked with the department were also recognized.
