by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Oct. 31, 2023
The Belize Police Department hosted the 28th Ordinary General Assembly for the Commission of Chiefs and Directors of Police of Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Colombia (CJDPCAMCC, translated from Spanish) in a two-day forum held in Belize City on Tuesday, October 31 and November 1.
“We are ecstatic to be hosting this international conference for the first time,” said Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams. “… We assemble today and tomorrow, to discuss our achievements over the past year and to plan the road map for 2024 in terms of how we’ll be policing the Central American region,” he added.
The CJDPCAMCC—originally named La Comisión de Jefes y Directores de Policía de Centroamérica, México, El Caribe y Colombia—brings together law enforcement entities from within Central America and the Caribbean and fosters inter-regional and international cooperation with all security organizations/agencies in security-related matters so that they can share information along with expertise, coordinate efforts in the fight against transnational crime, and work towards the overall improvement of citizens’ security.
The forum is being held in Belize because ComPol Williams assumed the position of CJDPCAMCC president in June of this year and will hold on to the presidency until November 2024.
“As the president, I am trying to see other organizations to be a part of our commission; that way we will be able to enhance citizen security, not just in our respective countries, but within the Central American and Caribbean region,” ComPol Williams commented.
Twelve countries along with fifteen policing organizations are a part of the commission and have sent representatives to attend the two-day forum. Reps from Guatemala and Panama National Police were unable to attend the forum.
ComPol said that as a result of the linkages and partnerships forged with other members of the commission, police officers in Belize will be able to receive specialized training in some member countries.
“I can say for the first time, that we are getting scholarships from the Honduras National Police for two police officers to do a Bachelor’s degree in Policing. Again, that [is] as a result of my recent visit to Honduras where I met with the Minister of Public Security and the Commissioner of Police and signed an MOU, so we’re now reaping the fruits of that,” he said.
“… When it comes to Salvador, we have done many trainings. We have done many different [joint] operations with Mexico and Guatemala along our borders. We visited Costa Rica twice to look at the model of policing that is being done to see if we can replicate that in Belize. Colombia gave us two scholarships for two police officers in the Canine Unit to do a course in dog handling and with that, we got two good canine that are a part of our K-9 Unit in Belize,” he added.