Belize Police Department Honors Women Leaders

We turn now to the women who are driving change inside the Belize Police Department. As Women’s Month activities continue, the department is putting its female officers front and center, recognizing their leadership, their resilience, and the challenges they face on and off the job. At a special symposium today, senior officers tackled everything from career growth and trauma support to cancer awareness. And they closed the event by honoring the women who continue to lift the force and the communities they serve.

 

Sr. Supt. Dehanne Augustine, Second in Charge, Belize District

“Today as you know we have Women’s Month. We started with the first of march with church service. This event, this symposium it will be covering important topics that we as women believe is necessary for our growth. We have career development. We have about trauma, cancer. These are topics we need. These topics are not only being heard of today. But this is an opportunity to emphasize these topics and talk about how important they are for our women. We also took this opportunity to award some of our females. In Belize District alone we awarded twenty-two females and it has to do with community service, the amount of arrest, the years of service, what to they give back and how they contribute to the enhancement of our police department.”

 

BDF Commander Addresses Women’s Safety in the Military

 

From honoring the proud women in law enforcement, we shift our focus to the Belize Defense Force. Tonight, the BDF is addressing a long‑standing concern: the abuse of women within its ranks. While the military has faced several reports over the years, the BDF Commander, Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez, says the situation has changed significantly. Only one case was reported in the past year, and he insists it was dealt with. Still, Velasquez acknowledges that the problem reflects wider societal issues and cannot be erased overnight. Today, he explained how the force’s policies are working and why vigilance remains necessary.

 

Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez, Commander, Belize Defense Force

“First of all I would like to address the problem. I like to call it a wicked problem, meaning it is a problem that is embedded in society and it will not go away overnight and just as a part of the society the Belize Defense Force reflects that. We have had issues and we may continue to have issues. But I can reassure the Belizean people that the issues are very minimized at this point in time right. We have adopted the SHARP policy where we empower women to report and have these cases come up. They either report it, they go through the civil police or do an anonymous type of reporting where the perpetrators are dealt with at any which way you can think about it. So, the policy works. I have seen it first hand how it works. I have been participating in the administrative process of implementing the SHARP policy and I can guarantee you today’s day that the situation is completely different in the Belize Defense Force for women. I am not saying that the problem has been eliminated completely, but it is a completely different culture in the Belize Defense Force how we treat our women.”

 

And as the BDF works to strengthen its culture, commanders say they’ll keep pushing those safeguards so women in the force feel protected and empowered moving forward.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: