From May 17 to 23, 2026, 22 police and forensic specialists from 12 Caribbean nations, including two representatives from Belize, wrapped up a week-long immersive study tour across Spain and France designed to upgrade regional crime investigation capacity. The exchange program, funded by the European Union and executed by UNDP Belize as part of the PACE Justice Project, builds on a foundational advanced forensic training course held in Barbados in 2025, extending the hands-on learning opportunity for regional law enforcement.
Belize’s delegation included one seasoned crime scene investigator from the country’s National Forensic Science Service (NFSS) and one senior officer from the Belize Police Department. Over the course of the tour, the entire Caribbean cohort met with leading law enforcement and forensic experts from European agencies, gaining firsthand insight into how major transnational and complex criminal investigations are structured and executed across the continent. A core focus of the exchanges was exploring how cutting-edge digital technology is reshaping modern police work, closing gaps between regional practices and global innovation.
Participants got to test and examine a suite of modern investigation tools that are increasingly standard across European law enforcement, including artificial intelligence-powered evidence analysis systems, virtual reality for crime scene reconstruction, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping technology. These tools are already streamlining workflows for European investigators, enabling more accurate crime scene mapping, faster evidence analysis, and more robust case building that holds up in judicial proceedings.
For Belize specifically, this capacity building comes at a critical moment: the country has faced growing public pressure to improve the quality of criminal investigations and boost conviction rates for high-profile major crime cases. In an official statement released after the study tour concluded, the NFSS emphasized that international exchange and training programs like this are foundational to strengthening Belize’s broader criminal justice system. By integrating modern tools and evidence-based European practices, the service noted, Belize can increasingly rely on rigorous, sound scientific evidence to support both criminal investigations and prosecutions, ultimately increasing public trust in the country’s justice system. The PACE Justice Project organizers added that they plan to roll out follow-up training and knowledge sharing initiatives across Caribbean nations in the coming year to help participating agencies implement the new practices they learned during the tour.