Belize: ICITAP Completes Investigations Training with National Police

On February 21, ICITAP completed the Basic Criminal Investigation Training Course for 29 members of the Belize Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Branch. This was the second session of the planned three courses. The first class of 30 investigators graduated on January 24, 2020. In addition to the instruction from the ICITAP trainers, all of the sessions include instructional sessions from the following local entities and individuals: crime scene technicians, fingerprint expert, forensic laboratory, medical examiner, national director of the department of public prosecutions, a law clerk and a judge from the Belize Supreme Court, which is not a constitutional court. All participants are subjected to pre- and post-course exams as well as an exam for each of the sixteen chapters. The class average scores from the pre-test to post-test on the second course increased by 12.83 points. They all participated in ten test exercises and a class project that required them to prepare a case file on a mock homicide case. The first class of 30 consisted of six women while there were eight women among the 29 participants in the second class. In Belize, ICITAP supports the Belizean National Police with the support of and in coordination with the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).