Today twenty police officers graduated from a four-week course. Their training wasn't in weapons use or evidence gathering, it was in effective writing and spoken communication. Now it may seem strange that law enforcement officers would be trained in grammar and communication, but a big part of their job engenders writing clearly and coherently. Police have to pen countless reports about incidents - and many times these reports end up in court where precision is paramount. Today was their last day of class and we stopped by to find out more:
Elena Smith, BNTU President
"There was an invitation to some groups to meet with the minister to discuss the crime situation. THat happened after the rally in Belmopan and we had agreed to meet with them and we met with the team and we shared our concerns and one of them was the matter of the police being able to do proper investigations, proper reporting and being able to get convictions and so as a result of that we were asked if we would be willing to assist the police department in training officers in report writing and we agreed because as we said we are concerned and we want to do our part to assist the process. We have been doing some sessions, our secretary Mrs. Ruth Shoman has been meeting with the officers for about four weeks now. Providing them sessions about report writing and giving them grammar and English lessons to assist them in being able to better write their reports."
Linda Chun, Police Officer
"I have learnt some good words that we were wrongfully using in terms of speaking and grammar and I had enjoyed the classes and a lot of us have the experience that we did not really have. We did not know it was wrong and thought it was correct so now when we go back out on the field we can use it the proper way."
"It was just like we were going back to school and refreshing our memory back. I think these classes should have gone a little longer. At least two more sessions or maybe even a little bit longer because it is really refreshing to relearn and learn more."
The BNTU hopes to continue the grammar courses not just in the city but throughout the districts.
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