“I have never seen such a report, nor was a copy shared with [me],” said ComPol Whylie

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 23, 2017–At Friday’s House of Representatives meeting, Hon. Cordel Hyde, Lake Independence area representative, was making remarks on the crime situation plaguing the country when he dropped a bombshell in the form of a letter from Robert Dieter, a former United States Ambassador to Belize, to a high-ranking official at the Belize Ministry of National Security.

The letter was about the results of a 2008 polygraph test (more commonly known as a lie detector test) which 34 senior members of Belize’s security forces (BDF and police officers) had taken.

Hon. Hyde told the House, “I have in my hand, Madam Speaker, a letter from US ambassador to Belize, Robert J. Dieter, to the Ministry of National Security in Belmopan, dated November 6, 2008. In that letter, the gentleman speaks and says that attached, please find the administered polygraph results for September 30, 2008 through October 9, 2008. A polygraph is what they call a lie detector test.

“It seems, Madam Speaker, that the Americans administered a lie detector test on perhaps 34 of our senior public officers and BDF officers and Coast Guard personnel. According to Ambassador Dieter’s letter, the questions asked of the officers were whether they had committed any serious crime, or whether they had provided investigative information to criminal organizations. What we know from this letter I have in my hand, Madam Speaker, is that of those 34 persons, 23 passed the test; 8 failed.

“But the most notable of it, Madam Speaker, captured in number 29, speaks to a certain senior police officer who is the top cop in all this land.”

“It is said that this senior police officer, at this time in 2008, failed this lie detector test when he was asked the question, whether he had provided information to criminal organizations. Very serious business, Madam Speaker, and I hope I am wrong. I am hoping it is not the same person I’m thinking, because what happened is that less than a year later, this senior cop was promoted to CEO in the Ministry of National Security. This senior cop, I don’t have to mention the name, everybody knows who I am talking about. This senior cop then less than three years later was appointed Commissioner of Police. I am hoping that maybe the guy had a bad day,” Hyde told the House.

On Friday, after the revelation was made in the House of Representatives, 7News managed to reach Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie via WhatsApp, and he remarked that he had never seen such a report, nor was a copy shared with him.

Whylie added, “I am a straight person and have nothing to hide. Persons who fail any US polygraph cannot receive any training or support from the US. I have, and continue to receive such [training].”
Today, Monday, Amandala spoke with the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, retired Colonel George Lovell, who told us, “Whatever had happened, I was unaware of it.”

“It would be presumptuous of me now to comment on something I have no knowledge of,” CEO Lovell pointed out, adding, “There are several factors why one would fail a US polygraph test.”

Amandala asked Lovell how it came about that the US was administering such a test on Belize’s top officers of our security forces.

“We probably had asked them to do it,” Lovell replied.

“And why would we ask the US to conduct such a polygraph test?” Amandala asked Lovell.

Lovell said, “You’d do that if you want to create a unit, or you want to send people abroad for training.”

The CEO said Belize usually asks the United States or Mexico to conduct polygraph tests on the country’s behalf.

Lovell said that Belize is looking into the possibility of getting people trained in administering polygraph tests, and that hopefully, we would be acquiring our own polygraph machine.

After the alleged polygraph test in 2008, during the UDP administration, Allen Whylie became CEO in the Ministry of National Security in 2009, replacing General Lloyd Gillett

In 2013, Whylie was further appointed Commissioner of Police, replacing Commissioner David Henderson.

It must be noted that Hon. Cordel Hyde did not at any point in his address identify the “top cop” to whom he was referring, and of the 34 officials, 3 didn’t take the test.