Posted: Friday, January 31, 2025. 9:23 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: Despite being paid from the public purse and treated as public servants in all but name, police officers are allowed to operate and own private businesses.
In the judgment of Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa, that is allowed with a few caveats: “We are not going to go down a road of restricting police officers from having a business. Now, that business obviously has to be legitimate. They obviously have to maintain their reputation in carrying out their business. That is what is important. You have to look at that. If they’re swindling people, I fully agree with you that they should not have a business of that nature and remain police officers. They should come out of the department…don’t you have managers of your business? You act as though, the commissioner or assistants or deputies are out at their businesses all day. If they’re doing that, then they are definitely breaching their fiduciary duty as officers.”
That is good news for Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, who is the figurehead of a car-dealing business which he has spoken openly about. He is also a trained attorney and nearing the end of his police career, but as he pointed out, there is an obvious conflict of interest if he tried to open a law firm: “I could have opened a law firm and have a law firm running while the I’m Commissioner of Police… [Jules Vasquez: “But that would be such a conflict though.”] Thank you very much. That would certainly be a great conflict of interest, so I dare not do that.”
Williams noted that the United Democratic Party turned a blind eye to a fellow senior colleague who ran a security company while being Deputy Commissioner of Police and was specifically in charge of the Dangerous Goods section, not to mention a UDP Minister’s law firm being involved in the Portico matter – what he called a case of throwing stones from a glass house.
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The post Police Officers will not be restricted from engaging in private business, says Musa appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Friday, January 31, 2025. 9:23 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: Despite being paid from the public purse and treated as public servants in all but
The post Police Officers will not be restricted from engaging in private business, says Musa appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
