The Crooks Report, officially A Review of the Belize Police Department, is a 2008

green paper In the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth countries, Hong Kong, the United States and the European Union, a green paper is a tentative government report and consultation document of policy proposals for debate and discussion. A green paper represen ...

on policing in

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

, written by Harold Crooks (a Jamaican consultant), and commissioned by the

interior ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

of Belize. It was released in full by early 2010. The report is notable for having been endorsed by the Ministry and

Police Department The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citize ...

, despite the heavy criticism it contained, and despite subsequent criticisms regarding the lack of progress on the implementation of its recommendations.

Background

The 1980s saw the rise of gangs in Belize, introduced by US deportees and especially adopted by locals upon the release of ''

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''. This was followed by an alarming wave of violent crime which only worsened in the 2000s. Thus prompted, the Police Department started proposing and adopting a number of novel (to them) measures aimed at curbing the violence. By 10 April 2008, the Department's governing body (Ministry of National Security) commissioned Harold Crooks, a Jamaican consultant, to review their progress so far, and to identify appropriate steps not yet taken. Crooks elaborated their report over a six-month period from 2 June, and presented it to the Minister, Carlos Perdomo, on 30 November 2008.

The Report is very critical of the Department's capacity to implement their own self-imposed measures, partly because they were very ambitious, and partly because the Department had very little in way of

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, and very much in the way of

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. The Report makes 167 recommendations for policing reform, presented in nine sections spanning 174 pages. According to Carlos Barrachina and Alejandro Monjaraz (of the University of Quintana Roo), the Report's recommended measures regarding professionalisation were 'the most important,' noting it 'clearly indicates the need' to standardise and modernise police training (initial and continuous), practice, and advancement. According to Jennifer Peirce and Alexandre Veyrat-Pontet (of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

), the Report showed the 'police force needs to be better equipped and trained and more effectively deployed,' underscoring the 'added challenges and complexities brought on by transnational crime dynamics, increased

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, and youth gang dynamics' which traditional (amateur)

community policing Community policing is a philosophy and organizational strategy whereby law enforcement cooperates with community groups and citizens in producing safety and security. The theory underlying community policing is that it makes citizens more likely t ...

was 'not equipped to overcome.' According to Raymond Shepherd (of the

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), the Report most significantly identified and recommended a myriad sorely needed improvements to human capital.

Responses

Upon the Report's presentation, News 5 noted it 'blasted the police and should serve as a wake up call for early reform.' The Minister, Perdomo, praised it for being an 'in depth' and 'critical' analysis, voicing support for its implementation. By January 2009, the Ministry had approved most of the recommendations and charged the Department with their implementation 'over the next few years.' By 2012,

7 News Seven News (stylised 7NEWS) is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition television, high definition studios in Eveleigh, New ...

commented the Report was 'gather ngdust on some disused shelf' at the Department, observing that the promised reforms had not materialised 'in any tangible way.' By 2013, Peirce and Veyrat-Pontet could 'determine which of its recommendations, if any, were implemented.' Over a decade after the Ministry's commitment (in 2021), former

permanent secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the same, George Lovell, noted 'only temporary solutions have been achieved, and on every occasion, those solutions bring us back to the same environment where crime and violence persist,' asserting the Ministry had 'not taken advantage' of the Report (and similar green papers). Peirce and Veyrat-Pontet called the Report a 'strong policy document,' noting it 'sets out a clear action plan for reforming' the Department. Barrachina and Monjaraz deemed reactions to the Report 'quite positive,' noting it was adopted as a 'foundational document,' with the incoming Barrow government reoganising the Ministry and appointing a new

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

(Crispin Jeffries) to effectively implement the Report's recommendations. They praised Crooks for drafting 'a highly critical report in which he analysed point by point the main problems of the Belize police force,' calling the Report 'an excellent analysis' of the Department.

Notes and references

Notes

References

# {{cite news , date = 10 Apr 2008 , title = Constitutional Amendments Will Give Cops More Powers , work = News 5 , place = Belize City , url = https://archive.channel5belize.com/archives/5089 , ref = {{sfnref, 5 a # {{cite news , date = 12 Dec 2008 , title = Crooks Report on Bz. Police Department Still Under Wraps , work = News 5 , place = Belize City , url = https://archive.channel5belize.com/archives/3061 , ref = {{sfnref, 5 b # {{cite news , date = 10 Apr 2008 , title = GOB Proposing Wire Tapping & Preventive Detention , work = 7 News , place = Belize City , url = https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=10913 , ref = {{sfnref, 7 a # {{cite news , date = 28 Jan 2009 , title = The Crooks Report , work = 7 News , place = Belize City , url = https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=13231 , ref = {{sfnref, 7 b # {{cite news , date = 23 Jul 2012 , title = The Real Crooks Report , work = 7 News , place = Belize City , url = https://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23015 , ref = {{sfnref, 7 c # {{cite news , date = 27 Jul 2021 , title = UDP Offers Again to Join Bipartisan Crime Prevention Committee , work = Breaking Belize News , place = San Ignacio, Belize , url = https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2021/07/27/udp-party-offers-again-to-join-bipartisan-crime-prevention-committee/ , ref = {{sfnref, BBN a # {{cite news , date = 30 Jan 2009 , title = The Harold Crooks Report Still 'Mostly Secret' , work = Amandala , place = Belize City , url = https://amandala.com.bz/news/the-harold-crooks-report-still-mostly-secret/ , ref = {{sfnref, Amandala a # {{cite book , vauthors = Burdon JA , date = 1931 , title = Archives of British Honduras , volume = 1 , place = London , publisher = Sifton, Praed & Co , lccn = 33013317 , ref = {{sfnref, Burdon # {{cite journal , vauthors = Barrachina C, Monjaraz A , date = 2013 , title = Belize: Reflections on Police Training and Professionalization , journal = Journal of Arts and Humanities , volume = 2 , issue = 2 , pages = 53–63 , issn = 2167-9053 , url = https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/69 , ref = {{sfnref, Barrachina # {{cite report , vauthors = Crooks H , date = 2008 , title = A Review of the Belize Police Department , place = Belmopan, Belize , publisher = Ministry of National Security , url = https://www.bco.gov.bz/repository/file-details.php?file_id=111 , ref = {{sfnref, Crooks # {{cite news , vauthors = Janowitz N , date = 15 Jul 2021 , title = How the US Exported a Bloods and Crips Gang War to Belize , work = Vice , place = New York , url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-the-us-exported-a-bloods-and-crips-gang-war-to-belize/ , ref = {{sfnref, Janowitz # {{cite report , vauthors = Peirce J, Veyrat-Pontet A , date = 2013 , title = Citizen Security in Belize , place = Washington, DC , publisher = IDB , doi = 10.18235/0009140 , ref = {{sfnref, Peirce # {{cite thesis , vauthors = Shepherd RW , date = 2010 , title = Organizational Friction: Urban Crime Control Diminish Effect Theory , type = MA Thesis , place = Ft Leavenworth, Kansas , publisher = US Army Command and General Staff College , url = https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA536840 , ref = {{sfnref, Shepherd {{refend

External links

{{authority control 2008 documents Law enforcement in Belize 2008 in Belize