The Ministry of National Security has a new initiative to keep law enforcement honest on the job. It's called the Civilian Complaint Review Committee. The idea is that this group of professionals will be overseeing the resolution of complaints of misbehavior and misconduct against the police, the BDF, and the Coast Guard.
It's the brain child of National Security Minister John Saldivar, who wants to restore the confidence that the public has lost in state's formal grievance resolution process. The Ministry wants the public to be confident that if a civilian complains against an officer, that the complaint will be properly pursued.
To be clear, this Committee does not replace the Police Department's Professional Standards Branch, which was once referred to as Internal Affairs. It only provides another level of oversight, where the head of the Professional Standards Branch will be required to regularly report to the Chairman of the Committee, the Commissioner of Police, and the Minister himself. The Committee will then meet once a month to review all complaints that were made against the security forces for that time period. They will act like an assessment board to ensure that the police department, the Coast Guard, and the BDF are not foot-dragging, or intentionally stalling their investigations into complaints from the public against law enforcement officers.
The Chairman of the Committee is Retired Police Commissioner Gerald Westby, and it is made up of members from all 6 districts countrywide. The other committee members include, Ida Herrera, the Administrative Secretary; Baldemar Hiram Gomez, a teacher from Orange Walk; Martin Griffith, a business man from Belize City; Rafael Marin, a retired BTL employee from Cayo, Sarita Kerr, a housewife from Dangriga who will be the Stann Creek Representative, Ian Glory, a businessman from Corozal Town; and Celia Mahung, the Director of TIDE Belize, who will act as the Toledo Representative.
Each of the members representing the 6 districts will have their own offices away from the police stations in their area, which will hopefully encourage the public to seek them out to lodge complaints, or seek follow-up.
Senior officers from the BDF, the Coast Guard, and the Police joined Minister Saldivar today in a press conference to introduce the committee to the nation. Here's what Saldivar said about his hopes for the new committee:
Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"I have authorized the establishment of a Civilian Complaint Review Committee. The Committee's main function will be to review all complaints lodged with the Professional Standards Branch, and provide the Minister and the Ministry with monthly reports with the findings of their reviews. The Ministry and myself will use this information to keep the public informed on the progress of these complaints, and to give direction to the relevant departments for improvement in their various disciplinary systems. I have appointed retired Police Commissioner Gerald Westby to chair this committee since he not only has a wealth of experience in the field of policing, but is also passionate about the task that I've asked him to do. He will have a team of well-respected and upright members of the various communities countrywide to participate as members on this committee. Their function will be as I said, to en sure that civilian complaints from the public as it relates to all our security forces, whether it be police, BDF or Coast Guard, are properly dealt with, and in a timely fashion, and that the system for holding security officers to account for their conduct and behavior is effective and proportionate."
Gerald Westby - Chairman, Civilian Complaint Review Committee
"I will chair the committee, and they always say, once a cop, always a cop. So why place an old retired cop in charge of the committee because he may have bias to police? But, on the other hand, who not best to appoint than a former police officer who knows the system well, and who can ensure that fair play is across the board, both as it relates to civilian, and as it relates to the police."
Allen Whylie - Commissioner of Police
"I just want to indicate officially my support of this committee. I've always said that as police, we are in a democratic society, and we police with the consent of the public. And this committee will again provide greater transparency and accountability on behalf of the department in what we are doing."
So, if you're a bit skeptical about just how effective this new Committee will be to shake up business as usual, the media was too. During the question and answer section of the press conference, the Chairman and the Minister was challenged to assure the public that the Committee will actually be able to do its job properly:
Reporter
"So, on Wednesday, once a month - or Thursday, like you said, you sit down, and you look at 200 complaints, what do you all do amongst yourselves with that 200 complaints."
Gerald Westby - Chairman, Civilian Complaint Review Committee
"Well, we'll review the complaints and make sure - the forms that we made is specifically designed to say what action, what status the the reports - so, we have a form specifically designed for that. And once we see that it is not being actioned in a timely fashion under the different columns, then we will - because sometimes, complaints will be unsubstantiated. So, we know that that is not substantiated. Then, we want to know the date [which] will be there, when the complaint was first made, the status, whether it is before a tribunal, or whether it's before Magistrate's Court, whether it's still under investigation. And based on that, we'll say, look at this date, and look at this. This is taking too long, and we're getting feedback. Remember, the public will now have these individuals in every district to make a complaint, and to ensure that follow-up is done."
Reporter
"It's a great idea. So, how will you all make sure that it does not gather dust, and be shelved down the road and the committee loses its teeth?"
Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"That is one of the reasons why I carefully selected the head of this Committee to be somebody that I felt had the enthusiasm and the concern, both from the perspective of the department and improving the image of the department, and also from the perspective of the public, who needs to believe and know that these matters are being handled properly. I expect that Mr. Westby will keep the fire burning not only in his committee, but also in keeping myself in the loop, and also keeping the commissioner and others in the loop. A lot will depend on the enthusiasm of those who are in the committee. I don't think they want to belong to a committee that is not achieving any good."
"We need to emphasize that down the road, there is a desire to turn it into a board which would then have to be legislated. At that point, issues in terms of terms of service and that sort of thing will be made into law. At this point, it is an advisory committee, and serves at the pleasure of the Minister."
Saldivar tells us that this Committee will make regular reports to the public, to assure transparency and accountability.
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