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Last night, we showed you the comments from Police Commissioner Chester Williams who discussed multiple important topics, including his recent trip to Grand Cayman Island to attend a meeting with his regional counterparts in the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police.

In that press conference, the Commissioner alluded to a pending press release that the ACCP intended to send out as their official position on the April press release from the  Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations.

You'll remember it as the one where that Federation called ComPol Williams a dictator for the way he was handling his dispute with Corporal Eldon Arzu, the President of the the Police Association. 

In that press release, CFPWA said, 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.

Well, in a press release, dated May 24th, the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police has struck back.  The release says, quote, "The... ACCP) takes note of a press release purported to be under the aegis of the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations. Wherein, allegations were made against Commissioner... Chester Williams by Corporal Eldon Arzu. The ACCP wishes to advise that this body has no jurisdiction over such matters, and further that the matter being sub judice, it would be improper for this body to comment or intervene. Please be guided accordingly." End quote.

At yesterday's press conference, Williams discussed the talks that he and the fellow commissioners had about the issue:

Chester Williams - Police Commissioner
"We also looked at the famous press release from the Caribbean Welfare Federation of Police Officers, we looked at that press release that they issued and they ACCP had responded to that press release. I should be getting a copy of the response hopefully by the end of the day today or tomorrow and it will be shared with you - but again the view of the ACCP is that they don't interfere in the internal running of any individual police department. We also shared the view that the welfare federation ought not to and I will go further to state that the actions of the federation was totally out of order in the sense that while the federation does represent the Caribbean countries, Belize is not a part of that federation and for that reason they have absolutely no reason to have issued the press release that they did. Yes, that was discussed as part of our meeting but we tried to respond in a way that is not confrontational. So we tried to be the bigger person around the table and be more subtle with our respond to the press release."

As the press release alludes, the case is currently before Justice Shona Griffith. Corporal Eldon Arzu is seeking judicial review of an SI that Commissioner Williams passed which limits the amount of terms that a President of the Police Association can serve to only 2.