Unwanted publicity about the lack of security at the Charles Bartlett Hyde complex building, located on Mahogany Street, which houses three of Belize’s major revenue collection agencies, including the Income Tax Department, GST and Agriculture Cooperative, has resurfaced.
Unbelievably, a lone, unarmed man walked straight inside the staff-only office documentation section of the Income Tax Department, and walked out without incident with a laptop and a hand-held video game PSP.
While the report of the brazen outsider entering the Income Tax Building and walking out with more than he came in, is not new, the circumstances differ a little compared to the July 15, 2005, armed robbery of the Department. Today we spoke with a few individuals from the Department on the reported theft.
According to Kent Clare, 48, Supervisor of the Income Tax Department and theft victim, it was business as usual when he was called out to assist tax paying customers (a woman and her husband) with their tax payments at the front desk, when the incident unfolded.
The individual, who was clean shaved and dressed in a red and white loose fitting Polo shirt, long jeans pants, and tennis shoes, apparently entered the building around 9:00 a.m., and proceeded to the accounts section of the Department, walking straight through the buzz door and into Clare’s office.
Clare told Amandala that while he was out at the front desk tending to the customers, he had to walk back down through the corridor and past his office to another colleague’s office to go over some documents, and whilst returning down the corridor from his co-workers office, he saw a man in his late 20’s exiting his office.
Clare said, “I saw the young man walking out of my office and I challenged him down the corridor, and called out to him.”
Clare reportedly tried to get the individual’s attention by saying twice, “Hey, Hey. . .”
“He didn’t turn around,” said Clare, “so I shouted ‘Young man!’ and that was when he turned around and I asked him what he was doing in my office.”
The man then replied, “It’s just some info I want, but I will come back. …It’s alright man; I will come back.”
The supervisor acknowledges the flaws within his department, as he explained that sometimes the buzz door is not fully closed by employees, who just making a quick run in and out of the office, fail to secure the door behind them. Clare suspects this to be how the individual gained entry without being buzzed in or noticed by employees.
Clare then retired to his office to check for missing items and noticed that his laptop, which is normally in the carrying bag, was no longer there, neither his son’s PSP hand-held game, which normally rests in the pull-out drawer at his work desk.
Most alarming about this incident is that the thief was seen in the building on Friday, May 21, 2010, in the Elections and Boundaries Department, observing and walking around, and each time the individual was approached, he gave the same explanation, “I am a new business owner, and am just trying to get some information.”
During the investigation being conducted by the Crimes Investigation Branch, it was learnt that the suspect had visited the building on the day of the theft. About a half-hour before, around 8:30 a.m., he was seen peeking through the glass windows situated on both sides of the buzz door, and whilst leaving, the security guard downstairs approached him, and he responded, “I am just trying to get some information.”
A search of the compound found scattered documents and two purses, which were later discovered to be the property of an employee from the top floor of the Agriculture Cooperative Department.
Clare also admitted that the incident should have never taken place, especially since this individual was found to be suspicious by employees throughout the different departments, and that it was a “lack of communication between departments” that led to the robbery.
This incident, compared to the 2005 robbery which resulted in $14,000 stolen from the Income Tax Department, was less violent. On July 15, 2005, employees in the Department were held up at gunpoint in the cashier section after a man walked straight into the back of the staff-only section and walked back out with the money. No one had suspected what was taking place until after the gunman had exited the compound and the employees alerted the security guard.
“I am waiting to see what will be done after this. …I mean, in this building alone, we have three major revenue collecting bodies and only one security guard for the entire building,” an employee told us. “The comings and goings of persons in the building need to really be taken seriously. …The security guard in the front serves no purpose because anyone can walk in and out without being documented, and that should not be.”
Clare stated, however, that initiatives will be taken to prevent such an occurrence again, which could have easily been a lot more serious.
Commissioner for the Income Tax Department, Marilyn Ordonez, commenting on the relevance and efficacy of the security measures in place, said: “I don’t think it is a matter of security. …It was negligence on the part of an employee who failed to close the door.”
Ordonez also explained that the building is secured by three unarmed security guards, two of whom are not certified guards, along with cameras at different locations in and out of the building.
In this instance, the thief is suspected of hiding the laptop and game in front of the loose clothing that he wore.
Commissioner Ordonez insisted that the staff needs to be more vigilant in whom they let in to the office, and to ensure that the doors are always properly secured.