Organizational Friction

In the early 1990s the Belize Defence Force (BDF) was instructed to provide manpower support to the Belize Police Department's (BPD) crime control efforts in Belize City. This resulted in a drastic reduction in criminal activity; followed by a gradual resurgence that surpassed the pre-combined era, both in quantity and severity. This study explores the diminishing crime control effect of BPD and the BDF in Belize City with a view to determine whether the BDF should continue to provide manpower support to the BPD. The research methodology is a qualitative narrative with a descriptive research design that embodies theory development from a phenomenological approach. The data collection strategy is a triangulation of a survey, interviews, and opinion polls. The research concludes that not only is the protracted military manpower support to the BPD an ineffective one, but it is also a contributing factor to the quantity and severity of crimes being committed in Belize; as well as the attrition of the crime control competency of both organizations. Findings of the study were applied to the development of a theory and an accompanying model, titled, the Urban Crime Control Diminish Effect Theory.