PRICE BARRACKS, Belize -- Approximately 20 students from the Belize Police Department graduated a week-long crime scene investigation class provided by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service April 16.
The training was conducted in support of Tradewinds 2010, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs directed, U.S. Southern Command sponsored annual exercise that is conducted with 15 Caribbean Basin Partner Nations, designed to improve cooperation in responding to regional security threats.
As part of Tradewinds 2010 training, NCIS brought a team of instructors to the Belize Police Department in the city of Belmopan, to teach crime scene investigation.
The CSI training is being offered in response to a request from the Belizean government as it battles a growing crime rate.
“Belize welcomes the NCIS community and we look forward to continued training opportunities.” said Police commissioner Crispin Jefferies. “The coordination of this training is timely and needed. The training is a step in the right direction, this capability is needed.”
The training was offered for two consecutive weeks to groups of 20 students, with the first graduating class composed of 13 Belize Police, 5 members of the Belize Coast Guard, a student from the Belize Central Prison and a representative from the Belize National Forensic Sciences service.
“This is the 26th year of Tradewinds in the past it has been mostly military training, but in the past few years we have heard growing requests for law enforcement training.” said Marine Corps, Lt. Col. Trent Blackson, the Tradewinds 2010 Exercise Director.
“The police department, the scenes of crime unit, the forensic department, the coast guard and the prison department all working together as one, I thought it would never work.” said Shernadine Peters, a basic crime scene technician from Belize City. “In order to combat this heightened crime wave that’s upon us we will need to practice the same kind of good relationship out in the real world.”