The top story in Belize this week is the trial of a police corporal who is charged with firing the shot that ended the life of an innocent Belizean youth, Laddie Gillett, on July 14, 2021. One report of the events on that fateful night is that shortly before the breath was snuffed out of his precious body, the 14-year-old youth, who was on vacation in Placencia with his family, had been on the beach, eating cake with a couple friends. Laddie was on the way back to the hotel where he was staying with his family, walking through an alley by the beach with a young friend, when they were spooked by men in black shirts. The men didn’t declare who they were, and the boys made an attempt to run away, and the fatal shot was fired.
The police officer, a relative youth himself, only 27-years-old when he was accused of firing the shot that hit Laddie in the back and killed him, was charged with manslaughter and dismissed from the Police Department. Laddie’s family says the accused has never reached out to them. In court last Friday, the officer pleaded not guilty to the charge. A high-powered team is leading the prosecution.
In recent years a number of children and youth have died after getting hit in the cross fire of crazed gang members. The difference in this case is that the accused is a person paid from the public purse to protect lives. How the case will end, what verdict will come from the court, is anybody’s guess. If the court decides that the officer on charge did shoot Laddie, its job then will be to determine exactly what happened, and after such determination to decide how best to serve justice. Startlingly, this is the second high-profile case in the last year in which a police officer is answering a charge of killing an innocent citizen.
On July 16, 2019, Allyson Major, Jr., a 36-year-old school teacher, was shot in the head while driving his vehicle on Regent Street in Belize City. The shot that hit him in the back of the head and killed him was allegedly fired by a police officer, one of a group that had set chase after Mr. Major because some informant had told them that he might have had some marijuana in his possession. Fifteen days after the slaying of Mr. Major, a single police officer was charged with manslaughter by negligence. That case is over now. On July 4, 2022, the officer was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence.
The verdict in the present case against a police officer pending, there are recent cases where our police officers have been alleged to be involved in gross misuse of their weapons and authority.
In the Executive Summary of the “2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Belize”, the U.S. Department of State said a man who was detained for breaking the Covid-19 curfew regulation was “beaten by a police officer while in police custody.” The man, who subsequently died, claimed that he was bullied because of his sexuality. The report said that “as of October the inquiry into the death of Allyson Major Junior had not progressed”, and that 55% of the complaints the Ombudsman received in the first half of the year “were reports that police used excessive force as well as allegations of abuse by security force personnel.” The police didn’t respond to a man who claimed they scalded him with hot water and pulled out his hair when they questioned him about a stolen cell phone. Three police officers who forced “a man and a woman with mental disabilities into a sexual act, recording the incident, and releasing it to the public” were charged with “willful oppression.”
In Like Bush Fire — A Study on Male Participation and Violence in Urban Belize, a book researched and compiled by anthropologists Herbert Gayle, Virginia Hampton, and Nelma Mortis between 2008 and 2010, the authors said “there were six alleged killings by police during the period of the study.”
Some police “killings” are in the course of duty, in their daily interaction with dangerous individuals and groups. Sometimes, far too often recently, the police are turning on innocent citizens, treating the innocent as they would individuals who are dangerous to them and the society. Why are many of our officers acting so violently?
Rank and file police officers are not highly paid for their services. But that isn’t unique to them. Most salaried Belizeans have trouble paying their monthly bills. The work of the department brings officers close to people in the illegal drug trade, and some have opted to serve these enemies of the state. As the saying goes, one bad apple spoils the barrel.
More than 90% of the individuals the police arrest for murder are set free by the courts. The lawyers, and the anthropologists in Like Bush Fire, suggest this level of failure is largely due to the police being poorly trained and equipped. Like Bush Fire says rogue senior officers deliberately botch some cases, and corrupt political leaders interfere in the workings of the justice system. There is a lot more to their dismal record in these cases. The conviction rate in true democracies across the world has fallen dramatically in the last several decades because of the system becoming more demanding. The deck being “stacked” against them is little consolation to officers when their labors are frowned upon in the courts.
The anthropologists suggest that favoritism is practiced in the Police Department, and this has led to low morale within the ranks. And they are getting no love from the community. Some youth persist in calling police officers derogatory names. The anthropologists in Like Bush Fire said: “There is a war going on between the youth of poor urban communities in Belize and the police. The police do not treat the youth with respect, and hence they have no legitimacy.” Youth don’t share information with the police, and they attack them, “see no wrong in throwing stones” at them.
All these things combine to create an environment that produces a disgruntled, angry cop. But that doesn’t justify police maltreatment of citizens—or shockingly, callously taking away an innocent citizen’s life. There are some serious issues within the Police Department, issues that must urgently be addressed.
The people don’t know who killed Mr. Allyson Major. The National Forensic Science Service laboratory could not link the police officer on charge to the bullet that caused his death. The people believe it is a police officer, a man sworn and paid to protect the lives and properties of our people, who fired the fatal shot. Belizeans would like for the person who killed Mr. Major to face the court, and for the court to decide what penalties, if any, serve justice.
This week a court in Dangriga is deliberating on the evidence surrounding the tragic death of Laddie Gillett. The court might find the officer guilty of manslaughter, and it might not. Guilty or innocent, it is distressing that a “protector of the people” is on charge.