Last night he was fighting with the president of the police association, but, tonight, police commissioner Chester Williams has a regional battle on his hands; the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations headquartered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is calling him out.
The Federation sent out a press release this morning strongly criticizing Williams for the way he is handling Corporal Eldon Arzu, the duly elected president of the police association.
The Federation's release says, quote, "our concern is in the presence of a leadership style which has….made matters worse by imposing a dictatorial style leadership that is transactional and unable to…embrace mediation as a method of resolving disputes….We consider the actions of the Commissioner of Police to be a personal attack on Corporal Eldon Arzu and we are calling on the Government to respond to this situation which is an abuse of power and an attack on a Police Officer…". End quote. That is strong language and today 7News went to Commissioner Williams's office at Belmopan Headquarters to get his response but sneered at the release and said his record and leadership style speaks for itself.
Chester Williams- Police Commissioner
"I am not going to dignify that press release with an answer. I will simply say to you speak to the rank and file of the department. I believe that I am one of the most consultative commissioner. I believe that I am one of the commissioners who look out for the welfare of my officers more than anything else and so I don't need to respond to that. The Belizean people are very intelligent people and they know best. I'll leave them to be the judge of that."
"If any organization wants to condone or to shield Mr. Arzu from being an accountable person, then something is wrong with those organizations or associations. Because I would want to think that as an association or an organization, you should support transparency. That is what it is about."
Williams says the Ministry of National Security will release an official response to the Federation's release. But Williams had his own bombs that he released on Corporal Arzu in our interview this evening - and we'll have that a little later on in the news.
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