From Rogue Cops to Fat Cops to Fake Cops!

The Belize Police Department seems to be plagued by one problem after another. The issues of police brutality and corruption have become common allegations against elements of the department.  There are countless complaints being reviewed by the department’s Internal Affairs Unit to determine the fate of those officers against whom allegations have been lodged.

Since the Prime Minister and Police Commissioner’s grand-standing on April Fool’s Day about rogue cops being behind a series of high profile armed robberies in the City and San Ignacio a few months ago, one officer, Constable Jermaine Mangar, was taken to court for offences not nearly matching the allegations that were made. He was eventually vindicated when the more serious charge, that of Attempted Robbery, was withdrawn for want of prosecution.

Just weeks after that, the newly anointed Minister of Police, Doug Singh, was caught doing what he seems to do best – put his foot in his mouth, when he publicly insulted and offended cops who are on the heavier side.  Singh kept referring to heavy-set officers as having “their guts hanging over their belts” and challenging them to a physical test.  Clearly the new Minister has no clue that some of those same officers are the more intelligent ones in the Department, regardless of their weight.

But perhaps the most outstanding snafu occurred only this week when a man posing as a cop was able to fool many civilians and use the department itself to carry out his deed of impersonating a police officer.  That man, Aaron Wilson, 20, faces six charges after his plan of making a living off citizens and acting as a cop landed him in the hands of the real law.

Wilson, it appeared, posed as a special constable attached to the Eastern Division Police Station on Queen Street and had been doing that for quite a few months. His one reckless act which turned things around for him happened after he was “leaving shift” last Friday evening fully clad as a police officer and stopped to offer a young woman a ride home.  The young lady accepted the offer but asked him to make a stop at the home of Malcolm Vasquez.  He did make the stop on Princess Margaret Drive but got into an argument with Vasquez during which he threatened him.  Wilson and the young lady left and it was what he did next that would come back to haunt him.  She said he fondled her and stole her cell phone and she decided to report it to the real police who discovered the Wilson was no cop after all.  That discovery was made as Wilson walked into the Eastern Division offices the same time the young lady was making her report.

The embarrassment of having civilians posing as cops is something that needs to be looked at urgently.  Obviously something is lacking if one can simply walk in, dressed and posing as a cop and no one would know.  Aaron Wilson had gotten so good at his act that he even fooled his girlfriend.  Every day he dressed as a cop and being in possession of all the necessary IDs and police regalia, would go to the Department and kept fooling civilians, getting money out of people who fell for his bribes for offences they were found to have committed.

While Wilson was eventually caught through no brilliance on the part of the Police Department, callers to the talk shows this week have indicated that this incident increases the distrust already existing between the BPD and the community, since one can never be sure if the person approaching them in uniform is really a Police officer.

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