by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 5, 2022

Just a few weeks before the retirement of Deputy Commissioner of Police Deziree Magdaleno, a number of transfers are taking place within the Belize Police Department. Most notable is the transfer of Howell Gillet, who had recently returned to Belize City to head the Eastern Division in March of this year, to Belmopan, where he will be heading the Community Policing division of the department for the entire country, while Hilberto Romero will replace him as the new Commander of the Eastern Division, and Aaron Guzman has been selected to be the new Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).

The replacement of Gillett by an officer of a lower rank is the third time there has been a change of the person holding the post of Commander of the Eastern Division in less than a year.

While some might view Gillet’s transfer as a demotion, Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Kareem Musa, explained otherwise when he spoke to the local media.

“We have ACP Howell Gillett, who has been doing a very good job in Belize City as well, one of his big strengths is community policing, and now we will be moving him up to head community policing. ACP Guzman will then be taking on the DCP role. As you know, ACP Guzman was [in] community policing, but now he is moving up as Deputy Commissioner of Police. I would not consider this a demotion by any stretch; it’s a parallel move. In fact, he’s going to head an entire Community Policing desk, which is for the entire country of Belize, and [as] I said, that is something that we recognize is one of his strengths, is reaching out to the business community, reaching out to the students, to the schools, engaging the community, and that is truly one of the big points for us in PlanBelize. If you look at PlanBelize, community policing is one of the areas that we want to focus on and that certainly has been enhanced, not just by him but by all police officers. Over the last two years, there has been a greater effort towards community policing, so I do not in any way consider that a demotion,” he said.