If you travel the highways at odd hours - you'll see police on the roadside trying to catch a ride home. It's not a good look for law men and women to be begging for rides - plus it's unsafe for them to hitchhike.
And that is why it was certainly with some relief that Commissioner Chester Williams today called the press to say he's coming through on a long held promise: he's getting two busses to transport the the police - with a quarter million dollar hands up from the Taiwanese. He told us about the new Coaster buses that he got after months of lobbying the Taiwanese and visiting the island nation himself:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The buses that we are getting will be the coaster buses from Belize Diesel. We are hoping to get the first one in country by the end of December this year and then we will get the next one. We do know that the government provides housing allowance to assist in renting where they work, but some of them chose to live out district for good reason at times. So, it is very disheartening to me to have to see my officers hitchhiking at night time trying to get home and so this was very important for me to get for them. This should be able to eliminate the police officers on the streets at nights flogging down any vehicle that's coming their way to try and get home. We will have a transportation dedicated to getting home our officers safe at night."
The two buses will cost upwards of two hundred thousand dollars and the first one will arrive at the end of next month.
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