BELMOPAN, Cayo District, Mon. Apr. 3, 2017–In July 2015, the Belize Police Department conducted its last major shakeup of the department’s senior command.
At that time, the Eastern Division was broken down into three divisions which saw recently trained attorney and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Chester Williams elevated as the Officer Commanding Eastern Division South.
ACP Edward Broaster had also been elevated to the Officer Commanding Easter Division Rural, while ACP Dezerie Phillips, who was previously the sole Commander of the entire Eastern Division, was left only with responsibility for the northside.
According to leaked documents, after almost two years, the Police Department is backpedaling to the previous structure in the Eastern Division, and the shakeup for all units will reportedly take place on the same date, July 1.
We have received unconfirmed reports that effective July 1, ACP Williams will be transferred out of Belize City’s southside and relocated to the Prosecution Branch in Belmopan.
We are told that if Williams is transferred, he will resign from the Police Department.
ACP Edward Broaster will also be leaving his rural colleagues and will occupy office as the Commander of Operations in Belmopan.
Eastern Division, which contains the entire Belize District and cayes, will now return to the command of ACP Dezerie Phillips. However, she will be joined by three sub-commanders.
One of those sub-commanders will be Senior Superintendent Alden Dawson, who will take up office in Eastern Division Rural.
Dawson had previously served as ACP Williams’ Deputy on Belize City’s southside.
Senior Superintendent Ralph Moody will occupy northside. Previously, he had served as the Southern Regional Commander for southern Belize. He will be replaced by ACP Phillips’ northside Deputy, Senior Superintendent Alford Grinage.
Senior Superintendent Marco Vidal will replace ACP Williams on Southside. Vidal’s new appointment is considered by many as a demotion.
Vidal was previously the Head of Special Branch and before that, he was the Commander of the Gang Suppression Unit (GSU).
The Acting GSU Commander, Inspector Glenn Caliz, will, too, be forced to occupy a new office. We are told that there are talks in the department to have the GSU disbanded and replaced with a new unit.
However, Commissioner of Police, Allen Whylie, has not released an official report. We tried to contact him for comment but were unable to do so.