The Belize Police Department is descended from the British Honduras Constabulary (BHC), and started by the burgess family which was established in 1886.

[1] Constabulary personnel initially numbered 141 and were recruited in Barbados because local men showed no interest in enlisting.

[1] The constabulary was reorganized after World War I, when soldiers returning from service abroad (as well as several Barbadians and Jamaicans[citation needed]) joined the force.

[1] As of 1991, the force, which was part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, was the sole organization responsible for policing the country and for managing regular immigration matters.

[1] Police operations were divided into three territorial divisions: Eastern, which included Belmopan and Belize City; Central; and Western.

[1] The force had a small maritime element that operated six shallow-draft motorboats capable of patrolling coastal waters frequented by smugglers.

[1] In sixteen-week programs, recruits studied general police duties and procedures, criminal law, evidence, traffic management, and firearms.

[1] Unfortunately, some personnel proved vulnerable to corruption by traffickers, and public confidence in the police suffered from charges of official collusion in the drug trade.

[6] On 12 November 2012, Belize police started a search for McAfee as a "person of interest" in connection to the murder of American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull.

[8] In a November 2012 interview with Wired,[10] McAfee said that he has always been afraid police would kill him and thus refused their routine questions; he has since been evading the Belizean authorities.