Two days ago we told you about Operation Tradewinds which is being
hosted in Belize for the second time in three years. On Tuesday we showed you
the tactical training in riot readiness and marksmanship. But there’s
also a theoretical component and today Jim McFadzean went into the classroom
where he found a Belizean- American who’s with the US Navy’s Criminal
Investigative Service. Here’s that story.
Jim McFadzean Reporting,
It is the single most lacking tool in the fight against crime in Belize. Lack
of good intelligence gathering has crippled the efforts of Belize Law Enforcement
Agencies as they attempt to take even the smallest bite out of crime.
A substantial part of Tradewinds 2010 exercises are devoted to Law Enforcement
training, a large and important part dedicated to intelligence gathering. The
sponsor of the joint exercise is the United States which is providing a field
of experts coming from its civil and military intelligence agencies such as
the FBI, United States Marine Corps, its Coast Guard and Naval Intelligence
Agency known as the NCIS.
And while the media’s focus for the next two weeks will be on the various
tactical training provided in core infantry skills, policing and investigative
techniques, and other sensitive security areas, one young female in the middle
of all the military and policing spectacle, stole the spotlight for us. She
is Marilyn Marin Sandifer, a Physical Security Specialist attached to the United
States Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Marilyn is a native Belizean who migrated to the USA in 1983 and signed up
with the US Navy almost 20 years ago. In 2006, she was commissioned an officer
in the NCIS. The sister of media personalities Sharon and Yaya Marin, Marilyn
says, she literally begged for this posting while doing a brief stint in earthquake
devastated Haiti, and while she is excited to be home the present security challenges
being posed for Belizean Law enforcement authorities, saddens her.
Marilyn Marin-Sandifer, NCIS – Physical Security Specialist
“It is sad to say but right now the crime is out of control in Belize.
I come home every year when I am not deployed overseas with the military and
I have to say this is the worst I’ve seen it. It is sad. For us right
now I am here with Tradewinds 2020 and this year and we are focusing on law
enforcement protection so I am hoping the subject matter expert exchange with
all the different, the FBI and of course NCIS we are here and we are doing a
crime scene investigative classes and we are doing first response classes. So
hopefully with the experience we are bringing and we’re training with
the BDF, with the Belize Coast Guard, with the Police Department, and of course
14 other different countries, I am really really hoping it gives the Belizeans
law enforcement officials more ammunition, not actually ammunition, to go out
and enforce some and it helps them because we really need help right now.”
Jim McFadzean,
“How critical is scene processing which I am sure you all are experts
in, how important is the processing of these crime scenes?”
Marilyn Marin-Sandifer,
“It is important because if you do not first of all secure the crime
scene as soon as it happens you are going to lose evidence and then processing
it, you use fingerprints for example, if you have fingerprints on a scene and
you don’t get the fingerprints, I don’t care whose fingerprint it
is, whether it is the person living at that location or the actual suspect,
you have to process it immediately, you have to do it the right way, so we can
actually take the case all the way through and the person that committed the
crime, get that person off the streets so we can put an end to this.”
Jim McFadzean,
“What is the biggest challenge in your opinion that is being faced by
our law enforcement services right now?”
Marilyn Marin-Sandifer,
“You hear all the rumours, I don’t know if it is true or not,
about all the different corruption. I don’t care whose wrong or whose
right, whether it is the government, whether it is law enforcement, we all have
to come together as a people because you can’t do it by yourself anymore,
we need help and we need to start uniting and get rid of this stuff that is
going on in the street, it is impacting everybody. You know I want to come back
home and live and open a business but even that is affecting the tourism industry
and they don’t realize it is going to have an impact on the entire country
because we need that tourism dollar. So we all have to come together as one
because it is totally affecting everybody, not just one area. They keep picking
on the south side but it is on the north side. It is impacting everybody so
we need to come together, we really do.”
Jim McFadzean,
“As it relates to police work, what would you say are some of the greatest
challenges being faced right now to at least put a bite in the crime situation
here in Belize?”
Marilyn Marin-Sandifer,
“Training, you need to have cops that are trained, you need to have
law enforcement that knows what they are doing. You cannot go into the community
and just gun shoot, it won’t happen. Even as law enforcement you don’t
have that right, there are steps you have to take, escalation before you get
to your gun and that is one of the things we’re doing in our first responders
course. I am surprised they don’t do escalation of force, they go first
to the gun. I hope this cross training is going to give our local law enforcement
the ability to deal with them.”
The brutal and unrelenting crime wave has turned Belize into a virtual free
for all shooting gallery and as one cold blooded murder after the other go unsolved,
good intelligence gathering, while it might not provide all the answers, is
by all accounts a sound investment in our Law Enforcement Agencies. Reporting
for Seven News, I’m Jim McFadzean.
`
Marin has served in several major familiar hot spots around the world,
such as Desert Storm, the Balkans War in the former Yugoslavia and Iraqi Freedom.
She is the daughter of Jean and Roque Marin the Architect and Land Surveyor
of Belize City.
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