Police Commissioner’s last gift for Women’s month, no more “W” added to the titles of women officers

Published by BBN Staff at March 31, 2021

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Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2021. 5:22 pm CST.

By Benjamin Flowers: The Belize Police Department has finally implemented the policy to remove the Woman (W) designation from the titles of female police officers.

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams explained that the policy decision was taken last year and discussed again recently, and has received the full support of the Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa. The policy was implemented in March in honor of Women’s Month.

“We want to refer to police officers as police officers. When it comes to men we don’t say ‘MPC’ meaning male police officer, we say PC, and the same should apply to women,” Williams said.

He noted that the removal of the W designation does require some adjustments in the event that there needs to be a distinction between a male and a female officer, and that the department is still working on those very specific circumstances. Williams notes that one way the department will address the issue is to use an officer’s full name when being referred to. Other measures will need to be employed in situations where using the full name does not easily make the distinction.

He said that the removal of the W designation forms a part of a long line of initiatives promoting women in the department under his watch; noting that a number of female officers have been promoted and continue to hold key positions since he became Commissioner.

“At the end of the day we have a number of women who work as hard as men and in some cases harder than men,” Williams added.

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