SPECIAL DAY FOR THE FEMALE OFFICERS OF THE BELIZE POLICE DEPARTMENT

March 07, 2007

Female Officers from the Belize Police Department today visited various tourist spots in and around Belize City as part of Women’s Week activities. The Officers had lunch and spent time at Bacab Amusement Park in Burrell Boom Village. This morning Police Commissioner Gerald Westby addressed the Officers and had high commendations for the role they play.

Police Commissioner Gerald Westby

“Too often women are so misunderstood, misrepresented and it is important that the roll that you people play in society. We can talk about many great ladies we have Florence Nightingale the kindness when she helped those that were at war we can also remember Mother Theresa the patience she exhibited turning to people. And we can also remember Miss Parks who refused to ride in the back of the bus and today we have civil liberty in the United States for colored people. Sometimes I wonder where the men were in those buses when she was there. We look at Belize and there are many great women, today we have for the first time a Deputy Commissioner a female who has earn her keep we have many, many other Senior Officers including Miss Murray, Mrs. Willis many other Officers who are up in the rank of the Belize Police Department who were not given their promotion because of being female but because they have earned their keep. Ladies and Gentlemen, behind every great man or men there are great women and although my wife is not here today I really feel proud because she stood with me over twenty odd years and I would have been here today if it was not for her.” 

Director of the Women’s Department, Doctor Carol Fonseca also addressed the female officers before they went on their tours.

Doctor Carol Fonseca: Director of the Women’s Department

“In a society that we live today there are so much negative things that we hear and I am here to let you know how very proud we are of all of you here as women, the work that you do everyday the sacrifices that you make I want you to know that we acknowledge that. And we recognize what takes for you to be a Police Officer a female Police Officer in this day and age. There are so many of you here who I recognize as women who has help us in so many different places in helping to save lives not only women in our country but also men as well. And I think often time in the media the only thing that we often see is when women die or when men die but often times behind the scenes people do not recognize that every single day we are saving lives of women and men throughout our country and those are the kind of things that we really need top recognize. And I want to let you all know on behalf of our Government and the work that we do at the Women’s Department that all of you here are appreciated as we applaud the work that you all are doing and we want you to know that it is important that you recognize as an individual as a woman that you are contributing positively to our society. Each and every day when you wake up in the morning recognize that and even if no one else recognizes it recognize that you are contributing and making an important contribution to our nation.”

Daughter of Malcolm X, Ms Shabazz, who is in Belize for Women’s Week-related events, also had inspiring words for the officers. As for abuse of women, Police Commissioner said he had no tolerance for that crime, especially when perpetrators are Policemen.

Police Commissioner Gerald Westby

“We must work at ending domestic violence especially violence against women on a whole. I have made it abundantly clear in the department that any Officer who is caught abusing any female whether a member of the staff or outside I will deal with them most severely because we must lead by example.” 

Long standing Woman Police Officer Yolanda Murray will soon be promoted to the status of Senior Superintendent of Police. She says there has been significant improvement over the years in the Department and female officers are given a fair chance.

Woman Police Officer Yolanda Murray

"Well April of this year will make me thirty five years and throughout the years there definitely have been improvements and never as much as we are having in these most recent, two or three years I must say completely different that we try and get  women together especially Mrs. Leslie and I with the support of the Commissioner, he never object to any ideas we come up with. And we are working to come up with better comradeship in the department that we can get together as a group and take some time off and being together because we are separated  all over the country. Last year we hade our second Officer reunion in Belmopan where all the Women Officers converged and we had a two day conference and beside that we had fun, for the Police Department it is very stressful that for women they have their homes to attend to they have their children to attend to they have been dedicated there have been many committed women or I must say almost all of them. We find a few that sometimes that maybe are not as committed as others but we try to encourage them to get that same commitment from them.” 

The Belize Police Department has over 120 female officers serving all over the country.  

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