ComPol Urges Public Officers to Prioritize Health After Cop’s Death

The Commissioner of Police is encouraging public officers to take their health more seriously. His call comes following the death of Santiago Ciau Junior, a career cop who fell ill in the line of duty. The 37-year-old had been diagnosed with a bone disease brought on by a fall he suffered on the job and was unable to work. However, he was not able to qualify for an invalidity claim from the Social Security Board. The organization had explained that Ciau’s medical examinations did not meet the requirements. Yesterday, ComPol Chester Williams weighed in on the situation and sent a message to other public officers.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “I would first start by expressing our sincerest condolences to the family of Santiago Ciao. That’s a police family, the father and all the sons joined police and we still have two of the sons with us one working at CIB in Belize City and the other working here at the academy and I must say they are very resourceful people. Quite knowledgeable in what they do and so we’re grateful to them. It’s a rather unfortunate situation what happened to him and again it underscores my point earlier in respect to social security. I don’t know what was the basis for Social Security not honoring his claim but if it is that he got injured on the job which in fact he got injured on the job then certainly Social Security ought to have honored his disability claim. Now note to police officers or public officers on a whole. Many a times we get injured on the job and because at that particular moment we don’t feel any pain, we think everything is okay we don’t go to the doctor and when the effects start to affect you two three months down the road and then you go to the doctor then Social Security would say this can’t be an on the job injury because you fell or whatever three months ago and nothing happened to you. Right ? So the thing is that make sure that whenever you are injured on the drop if you fall even if you feel good, you get into an accident even fi you feel good, go to the doctor. Record your situation so that if later on it begins to affect you you can always make reference back to your hospital visit and what the doctor then may have said and that will give more credence to your claim.”

Ciau was laid to rest last Saturday in southern Belize