Friday, August 29, 2025 at 10:50 PM
  Just in case anyone hasn’t noticed, there’s a serious problem in the Police Department. I never thought that I would say this, but I miss Chester Williams. Yes, he had that braggadocio swagger, and could be confrontational with the press, but I believe that his heart was in the right place most of the time. He was protective of his nepo babies (his family in the Police Department), but he also had a righteous indignation against malfeasance by anyone, especially by members of his own team.
  I don’t know this Budna character; I wouldn’t want to know him. His entire life seems to be a series of intriguing missteps and blundering inefficiencies and tendencies towards narcissism. I’m not claiming that he has any of those characteristics; I’m saying that it seems as though he might. But that mysterious kidnapping, and his unchecked journey to Guatemala through various police checkpoints is implausible at best, and smells of collusion, at worst. If so, then someone should lose their job. How can one accept that our police officers are acting outside of their sworn duties, to serve and protect? How is it possible that a kidnapped person can travel half the length, and the entire breath of the Jewel, without raising suspicion? Seriously.
  Then there is the case of Sebastian Pop, the Toledo resident who is wasting away in some Guatemalan dungeon after he was kidnapped in Belizean territory two years ago. And the Foreign Minister is clueless about all this; after two years, we are expected to believe that he hadn’t been apprised of this invasion into our territory, to snatch one of our own? Gimme a break.
  No wonder Guatemala doesn’t respect us. No wonder they come in, whenever they feel like, into our waters, our forests; they even have illegal farms in our sovereign territory! No wonder they act with such impunity!
  In my opinion, the first few months of the Doctor being in charge of the police force has been a less than stellar performance. And apparently it is a performative job—not to enforce the law, but to pretend to enforce the law while all hell is breaking loose! Wat a ting.
  I still believe that Belize needs a police chief that does not owe allegiance to anyone. I also know that it is very hard in a small country like Belize for that to ever happen. It seems to me that we keep investing in a failed system of law and order to produce the wossa results.
  I’m not knocking the police. They are overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid. They have neither the proper training nor equipment to do the job. What I’m saying is that leadership matters, that the kinel waata flows down from the top downwards into the drain. The video of the kidnapping shows that police were there, and did not make any attempts to stop what was going on, in their territory. Not even gang leaders would allow that to happen. Wat a bloody mess!
Glen
P.S.: I know all about the things that Budna has been convicted of, and is alleged of doing, some horrible stuff. He is everything I despise, especially where children are concerned. This is not about Budna; it is about the mess we now face with law enforcement.
