_{Photo: Devon Makin, a police officer}

by Charles Gladden

SAN PEDRO TOWN, Ambergris Caye, Thurs. July 11, 2024

The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, broke his silence on a viral video that made its rounds on social media over the weekend in which his godson, Devon Makin, a police officer stationed in San Pedro Town, is seen aggressively detaining a civilian along with using profanity.

As mentioned in Amandala Tuesday’s digital edition, Makin was reportedly in pursuit of two men who were believed to be equipped with firearms and allegedly on their way to commit a crime. A snippet of the incident was captured via cell phone displaying Makin aggressively kicking the San Pedro man once, forcing him to kneel while hurling profanities.

Then Makin pulled out his service-issued pistol and proceeded to pistol-whip the detainee. After doing so once, Makin took two glances at the camera, placed his weapon in its holster, approached the camera, and aggressively ordered the person not to video him, while turning his back to the detainee.

According to ComPol Williams, Makin was off duty and was making his way home when two minors asked for his assistance, because they were being threatened by two men, one of them being the alleged detainee.

After the viral video made its rounds on social media, critics commented that Makin used excessive force. However, in the eyes of ComPol Williams, Makin’s behavior might not be completely unjustifiable.

“He met the one who was seen with him in the video, and the information is that he may be armed. The police would have to take out his weapon to secure his safety as well as the safety of others; and in doing so, what we normally do if we have a suspect who is believed to be armed, is you would put him to kneel down or on the ground on his belly until you are certain that he is safe. The sergeant attempted to do that, but while trying to put the person in either position, the young man was resisting [and he] only had two hands. So, he was holding him with one hand and he had the other, the gun in the other hand, and so he tried to hit him with the other hand, but that’s the hand that had the gun,” he said.

ComPol Williams further mentioned, “We have to look at the situation in its totality. It’s not like the sergeant just went and picked on someone for no reason and just beat him up. There was a complaint made by two minors and even though he was off duty, he responded to the calls of these two minors to try and apprehend the individual. Those persons who did the video recording, know exactly what happened; but, as usual, they spliced the video and just released what needed to be released … If it is that you know that you are so innocent, you have done nothing wrong, and you believe that the police have abused you, then why can’t you come forward and make a complaint?”

In the past, when officers would demonstrate similar behavior they would be nailed to the cross by the ComPol; however, because Makin is his godson, thus the soft tap on the wrist, the public is saying.

“What does that have to do with the price of milk? It has nothing to do with it. If you want to talk about the issue of relatives … Inspector Martinez, he’s my first cousin, correct? And what happened? My first cousin is more to me than a godson. And if I was able to move quickly on Inspector Martinez, who is my first cousin, then why would I not be able to do so with Mr. Makin? If it were that we were not looking at the thing holistically? Professional Standard Branch is in the picture. They are investigating. Once the investigation is done, we see how it goes from there,” Commissioner Williams said.

Speaking to the matter of the sergeant addressing bystanders with a camera, the Commissioner said: “When you have a situation like that, Mr. Vasquez [Channel 7 proprietor/journalist], those persons who were recording were part and parcel of the same enterprise of that young man. So not just because he, if a matter of fact, the police could not even have ascertained at that point, if he was armed or not; but the information is that he was armed. The police must act as if he was. Those other persons who were in the immediate area, too posed a threat to the police, because one of them could have well had the gun that the young man had. So, end of the day, for him to have paid attention to them would not be unusual, because when you are in a situation like that, you have to pay attention to everybody, because they don’t know who is who.”

ComPol Williams expressed that if the men are innocent, they should make a complaint to the police station; but the duo have not done so.