Mediation NOT aggression. That's what 70 police officers of varying ranks and jurisdictions are learning over the course of a training workshop at the Biltmore Best Western in Belize City. It is part of an ongoing Canadian government funded project known as the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean, IMPACT Justice for short. The 70 police officers are learning how to use mediation as a policing tool and how to finesse their conflicting resolution skills with internationally established best practices.
Hilary Linton- President, Riverdale Mediation
"So, police officers already have a lot of experience and natural skills in listening to people and resolving conflict. So, we are fortunate to be working with a very skilled group of professionals to begin with. So, we take their skill and their knowledge and bring to them some additional listening skills, some additional questioning skills, some additional ways of understanding what causes people to come into conflict with one another, what causes disputes to escalate and skills and strategies for deescalating those disputes so that people can resolve their own conflicts if possible."
Emanuel Pech- Reporter
"Some people might say that the reality in Toronto might be different from Belize. How do you ensure that a strategy that works in Toronto works in Belize."
Hilary Linton
"It's a very good question and the reality, I am sure, is very different. So, these are very international principles for conflict resolution that can apply anywhere. The officers are doing a lot of role playing, they are working with a lot of case studies that are relevant to the work that they do and you are quite right, we are very careful to not assume that our experience would apply here and we are being very differential to the experience of the police officers."
Cprl. Wilfredo Petillo- Participant
"Well actually it is complimentary, dealing with mediation, trying to be neutral, listening to both sides and how effective it is to settle matters outside of court. For example, in community policing it is very effective whereby you have two cadets that are having a misunderstanding, sit them down, listen to them and for them to come up with solutions on their own. It's a vast amount of information that could be used at home, at work and at the community in other program."
The training workshop is being imparted by experts of Riverdale Mediation from Canada and the Dispute Foundation from Jamaica.
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