Gsu Commander Mark Flowers Opens Up About The Unit’S Public Image

Insp. Mark Flowers

The Gang Suppression Unit remains the object of intense public scrutiny.  Recently, the elite task force came under fire from the People’s United Party which ultimately resulted in a tiff between former prime minister Said Musa and Inspector Mark Flowers.  Despite a succession of commanders however, the GSU is widely viewed as a rogue faction of the Belize Police Department, carrying out its mandate in the most unorthodox fashion, employing brute force to get the job done.  That reputation has seemingly resulted in a loss of public confidence, one that the leadership of the unit is fully aware of.  In the wake of another scandal which has made headlines elsewhere, News Five sat with Inspector Flowers to find out what steps, if any, are being made to change the perception of the unit.

Inspector Mark Flowers, Commander, Gang Suppression Unit

“What is being done is that we have conducted and are conducting training in regards to change in perception and the way we do things because we just can’t want to change perception without wanting to change our ways.  And if it is in fact true of the many instances of reports that we’ve come under fire for then certainly it is necessary for us to revisit and take a closer look at ourselves and the way the people view us.  So we’ve done training with the intent and we have done training with the intention of developing a decorum in the way we come across.  We want to strive for professionalism.  This is an elite group, this is an elite unit of the police department but we want to be seen as being that elite group.  We are certainly surgical in the methods we apply in doing our operations but when we get out there we want to do it professionally, we want to go in as forceful a way as we’ve always done but with less use of physical force on people.  We need to be humane and decent in the way we conduct the affairs of the people because it is the affairs of the people that we conduct out there.  When we go to search a house it is in the public’s interest that we do this.  We do it with a specific intent and we do it on intelligence that we would have received and we hope to do this, it wouldn’t be to the satisfaction of those owners that we are called to search but certainly to the wider public.  We want people to understand that this is a tactical group and we have to use tactical methods but without the physical confrontation with people.  We are striving to have conversations and not confrontations with people.”