BELMOPAN, Fri. Jan. 22, 2021– Last Friday, January 22, the U.S. government and the Government of Belize hosted a high-level roundtable discussion on ways to improve the Medicolegal Death Investigation System (MLDI) in Belize. This is the system that is in place for conducting investigations into all cases of sudden, unexpected, unexplained, suspicious, or violent deaths. Those in attendance included Acting Chief Justice, Hon. Michelle Arana; Attorney General Hon. Magali Marin-Young; Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries, Kevin L. Arthurs; Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Deysi Mendez; Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams; Executive Director of the National Forensic Science Service, Gian Cho; as well as forensic medical examiners of the National Forensic Science Service and representatives of the US government.

The discussion was facilitated by Dr. Roger Mitchell, the Chief Medical Examiner in Washington. Dr. Mitchell pointed to the dire need to establish a team of locally trained and certified medical examiners in Belize and presented a strategy that would ensure continual training and certification of Belizean medical examiners in Forensic Medicine and Pathology. Mr. Gian Cho, Executive Director of the National Forensic Science Service, reiterated the need for ongoing training and certification. “The focus currently is on strengthening the human resources of the National Forensic Science Service…. [hoping that this shift will] consistently produce high quality, independent, accurate, timely and complete information in support of death investigations,” he said.

This discussion could possibly be a starting point for advancing our country in medico-legal technologies and practices, which could strengthen our judicial system and help provide justice to the families and friends of murder victims.