On Friday, April 1st the San Pedro Police department hosted the Minister of National Security, Honorable John Saldivar and the Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie for an impromptu inspection of the guard followed by a quick meeting. The visit to the local police is part of Saldivar’s countrywide tour to re-assess and re-evaluate the effectiveness of the police and explore ways of improving the work of the Belize Police Department (BDP) in its fight against crime and its function of increasing safety and security throughout our communities.
The official ceremonies for the visit were held at the San Pedro Town Council conference room, where the San Pedro police officers were inspected prior to the commencement of the meeting. The short meeting saw addresses from both Saldivar and Whylie, as well as a question and answer segment for the police officers in attendance.
“San Pedro is a very important town in Belize. It contributes significantly to the economy, so we are always concerned when we see incidents of crime occurring on the island,” said Commissioner Whylie. He went on to indicate that the Belize Police Department is always taking special initiatives to ensure crime is kept in check on the island while trying to encompass a friendly community relationship. “At headquarters we always ask ourselves what else we can do to provide assistance. We cannot allow crime to get out of hand. We want the police to do their duty but we also want to see them taking a more community friendly approach. Police need to be respectful, because we can’t command respect if we do not give it. We are committed to assist the San Pedro police department as long as they do their part as well.” Whylie ended by indicating that in an effort to improve the station here on the island, BPD is looking into assigning more officers to the formation.
On the other hand, Saldivar thanked the men and women who make up the formation for their invaluable service to the community and nation, and he discussed with them ways of improving their working conditions and increasing their morale. “We place great importance on this jurisdiction and the job you [police] must do to keep this island as safe as possible. Over the last three years we have had a steady decline in major crime. But a lot of this goes unnoticed just like good work done by the police. People tend to talk more about the negative than the good. We don’t get a lot of thanks and praises; the Police Department is constantly under fire. That’s just the nature of job, but nevertheless we are here to protect the people,” said Saldivar. 
He encouraged them to continue working hard to make the community safer and improve the public image of the Police Department. “We are doing this countrywide wide tour because we want to hear from each formation. We want to identify the problems to find possible solution and ultimately strengthen the Police Department. We need to ensure that the police are always motivated to do their job even when resources are limited. We must learn to work with our limitations and set our priorities to work within the scarce resources we have in a manner that will maximize our efforts. Police officers have to want to do this; they have to love the job that they do because that is the biggest motivation. It needs to be each and every one of your desire to contribute to this nation and security,” said Saldivar.
The San Pedro Police Department would like to thank Honorable Saldivar and Commissioner Whylie for the encouraging words and assistance promised to the force.
