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Jeffries threatens Amandala

GeneralJeffries threatens Amandala
According to a letter from the Police Association, signed by its president, Sgt. 517 Ainsworth Perez, and Sr. Superintendent Chester Williams, Sr., dated almost two months ago, March 22, 2010, to the Commissioner of Police, Crispin Jeffries, the death of Police Corporal No. 910 Gavin Sanchez, was “murder.”
  
The letter was copied to the CEO Ministry of National Security, the Lady Ombudsman and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
           
Cpl. Sanchez was shot to death in the police barracks on San Pedro on Thursday, March 18, 2010.
   
Amandala has confirmed the authenticity of the document with the Office of the Lady Ombudsman, Cynthia Pitts, who showed us a carbon copy of the document, complete with signatures, that they received some weeks ago.
  
Attempts to reach the Ministry of National Security were unsuccessful, and the Office of the DPP has not responded to our messages for an interview.
  
Commissioner of Police, Crispin Jeffries, for his part, was obviously rattled by our attempts to discuss the letter with him.
  
Jeffries refused to comment over the phone, and when we asked him to give us a time that we could go to him for an interview, the Commissioner snapped under the strain, hanging up on our reporter, but not before threatening him that he would “sue him and Amandala” if the reporter revealed the conversation between them.
  
Considering that the letter is not from some disgruntled member of the public, or from someone looking for political mileage, or from someone simply trying to “make trouble” for the Police Department, but by Jeffries’ own ranking officers, who appear to be seriously questioning his competence as their leader, we can understand the strain on the Commissioner.
  
We have, however, the permission of the Ombudswoman and one of the co-signatories to the letter, the president of the Police Association, to publish the letter.
 
  
The letter has been edited for reasons of space (the sergeant’s name has been excised for legal reasons): 
 
“FROM: Police Association /Chester Williams, Sr. J.P., Sr. Supt.
 
TO: Commissioner of Police
 
SUBJECT: Death of Police Corporal No. 910 Gavin Sanchez
 
DATED: 22nd March, 2010
 
“Dear Sir,
 
We write with great concern about the alarming rate of alleged Police brutality within our department and particularly the recent MURDER of Gavin Sanchez, Corporal of Police No. 910, in San Pedro Town. As a police department, legally bounded by the Belize Constitution and the Police Act chapter 138 of the laws of Belize, to protect life and property, it is very disheartening when listening to the print and electronic media each day and hear of the police related incidents.
  
The Belize Police department being the only law enforcement agency in the country sworn to preserve all the laws and having such enormous powers, it is only prudent that we be kept under constant scrutiny by the public who pays our salaries. The public rightfully holds us in high esteem as we are enforcers of the laws and as such much is desired of us. As police officers our attitudes and behaviors should be above that of the ordinary citizen and most importantly we must not betray the public trust but instead must act to build the trust we need with the public for us to be able to function as a reputable law enforcement organization.
           
Over the past few months we have been plagued by a number of police related incidents, particularly (shootings), which has brought the integrity of our organization into question by the community. The same community we are bound to protect and serve, and with whom we are trying to bridge a very wide gap, as we continue to fight toward achieving a much better relationship with them. These allegations of excessive use of force by police officers are really broadening the gap between us and the community, making our effort towards achieving a better police community relation almost out of reach.
  
Now we will reflect on the incident involved the death of Corporal Gavin Sanchez. Sanchez was a very hard working and dedicated police officer who was at the same time very open and upfront. He surely did not deserve to die in the manner in which he was executed by a fellow member of this department, one which he has worked so hard for.
  
Looking at the allegation, and we use the term allegation, because we are not privy to the materials of the investigation; however we have spoken to a number of persons who were present on the island and had witnessed incidents leading to and after the incident itself.
   
Speaking as criminal investigators, we must say that we are not the type who will be quick to judge; however, as investigators we are taught to be curious, observant, intuitive, logical, persistent, and most importantly, understanding of the laws particularly relating to the elements which constitutes a crime. In looking at this incident we will be utilizing all the necessary skills to arrive at a fair assessment of what we believe took place on San Pedro, the night of Wednesday the 17 March 2010, which led to the death of Sanchez.
 
We will start with what happen at the night club.
 
1.   From the information, we received; there is nothing to suggest that Sanchez was acting in a disorderly manner. Yes, he may have been drinking prior to, but he simply intervened in a dispute between one of his colleague and his wife to prevent further escalation.
 
2.   Sanchez was assaulted by a member of the Belize Defence Force with an M-16 rifle without just cause.
 
3.   The Belize Defence Force soldier should not have been in that night club with such a weapon of mass destruction.
 
4.   It was the sergeant who without any just cause assaulted Corporal Sanchez first. He ought to have inquired what was taking place so that he could appropriately deal with the situation.
 
5.   Now let’s say Sanchez was drunk and behaving out of order, then yes the sergeant had all rights to detain him, escort him to the station and place him inside a detention cell before going back to the night club. But this was not done; the sergeant only escorted him out of the club and called on the radio instructing the constables to detain the corporal. Now! Wasn’t this the responsibility of the sergeant?
 
6.   When the sergeant got to the station and was told that Sanchez had uttered some harsh words including threats toward him and that the corporal may have been dodging him, he armed himself with the BDF soldier who had previously assaulted Sanchez to go in pursuit of him!
 
7.   When the sergeant was told that Sanchez had uttered some threatening language at him, Sanchez was no longer at the Police Station, he had already retired to his room. Any rational police officer would not go in pursuit of a fellow office who had threatened him. The proper thing for the sergeant to have done was to make all necessary entries in the diary and deal with the corporal in the morning when all heads were cool. Obviously, like any human being, Sanchez may have uttered those words because he was upset over being assaulted by the sergeant with the baton and the B.D.F. with the rifle.
 
8.   Now when the sergeant found Sanchez, Sanchez hit him in the head with a piece of pipe and Sanchez was immediately disarmed by the BDF soldier. The sergeant then shot him in the foot whilst still being held by the BDF soldier and he fell to the floor in the narrow aisle of the barracks. A police officer who was in a nearby room said he heard one shot fired and immediately thereafter he heard Sanchez saying, “See saag, you shot me fu nothing why you shot me fa” and immediately thereafter he heard several more shots being fired. It is also important to know that at this time Sanchez was already disarmed and posed no threat to the Sergeant.
 
9.   Based on what was heard by this police officer, it is clear that there was an outright intent on the part of the sergeant to kill Sanchez. After the first shot was fired, Sanchez was obviously still alive because he heard talking and the sergeant then finished him off whilst he was on the floor.
 
10. When the scene of this incident was processed, we were reliably informed that there was no blood spatters on the upper portion of the wall, only on the floor. Considering the fact that Sanchez is a tall person, about 5’11" in height and received several shots to the head which exited makes this very unlikely.
 
11. We were also told that on the floor where Sanchez’s head was, holes that are consistent with the impression of bullets was under or near his head. This is a clear indication that shots were fired at him whilst he was lying down on the floor.
 
12. To make matters even worse, we were also informed that expended 9mm shells were also recovered from off Sanchez’s dead body. This along with the impressions on the floor under or near his head, using logical thinking tells us and any investigator, that this is consistent with the shooter standing over him and firing shots at him.
 
13. Bullet wounds were also observed under the chin of Sanchez, to the right arm rear portion and on his right side of the back. All these are consistent with a person in a defensive mode trying to protect himself from his attacker.
 
14. It is also important to know that at the time of the shooting, Sanchez had on a bullet proof vest, which was visible. We are certain that the shooter, knowing that he was wearing the vest, shot him in the head, hand, leg, and back, all the areas that were not protected by the vest. This clearly indicates the intention (Mens Rea) of the shooter.
 
15. Having mentioned the following, it is our humble belief that Gavin Sanchez received all those injuries whilst on the floor in a very helpless position and this is an outright case of murder. Had he received those injuries whilst standing, the wall surely would have had blood spatter and bullet hole impressions on it to the level of his height.
 
16. Listening to the facts of this case there is sufficient evidence for any reasonable person to draw the inference that this is nothing but an outright case of premeditated murder and ought to be treated as such. The sergeant after firing the first shot had sufficient time to ponder his actions and visualize the consequences before continuing with the indiscriminate firing of his weapon on his fellow colleague.”
 
17. Having outlined the following sir, we are humbly requesting, in the interest of justice that this matter be fully investigated, leaving no stones unturned and have those responsible brought to justice. Sanchez was one of us, he has a family and is from the community, he surely didn’t deserve to be executed. The public is very concerned about this incident and are waiting to hear a positive outcome. Whilst we do believe that we should not act on public pressure, we believe that where the evidence exists we are not to wait for public pressure for us to do what is legally and morally right.
   
The police department has a lot at stake here. It is very petrifying to us and many other officers when listening to the facts of this case, there is surely the issue of excessive use of force that we must probe into. We urge, for us to come together as one department to try and restore public confidence into the work we do and love. This department as you always alluded to is over a century old and we have been members for a number of years and have never seen our department in such a manner, to the extent that we are killing each other.
   
We are certain sir, that you just, like the majority of us, have worked diligently for many years to make this department better and surely wouldn’t want to see it slip away further than it already has. We owe the public a duty to serve them well and we must do so by any means necessary in order to restore their trust and confidence in us.
  
Finally, we are requesting that the Lady Ombudsman and Police Association be a part of the investigative team to probe deeper into this incident and all other police related shootings. If this is done it will show impartiality and transparency in these investigations and will give assurance to the public that we are serious about bringing proper closure to these police related incidents.
 
Respectfully Submitted
 
Ainsworth Perez Sgt. No. 517
President Police Association
 
Chester Williams, Sr. J.P., Sr. Supt.
 
Cc CEO Ministry of National Security
Lady Ombudsman D.P.P.
 
The Lady Ombudsman told us that since her office has received the document, none of the parties concerned in the letter has contacted her about the forming of any joint task force to investigate Sanchez’s death.

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