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| RCMP's Jeff Johnston |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 12TH 2006 - St. Kitts and Nevis discussed the recent incidents of crime on Tuesday with a senior Caribbean-based official of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
RCMP Liaison Officer, Jeff Johnston held talks with St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas; Minister of National Security, Hon. Dwyer Astaphan, Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Joseph Edmeade; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Security, Mrs. Astona Browne and the High Command of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force and the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
Mr. Johnston, who is based in Kingston said St. Kitts and Nevis, "still a peaceful country" is one of the 14 Caribbean nations that he has responsibility for.
He said that his visit to Basseterre is as a result of discussions last week between St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and Bridgetown-based Canadian High Commissioner on the most recent crime incidents in the twin-island Federation.
"They (Government) is recognising that as the world changes, crimes change and St. Kitts and Nevis is a small peaceful country and you have started to see this ripple effect and want to halt it. You have seen these ripples come and your people have said that they are concerned about it, so the Government is acting and is reaching out to its friends and partners, who have worked together and is looking for advice and is trying to stop these incidents from happening here," said Johnston, who has been in the Caribbean for the past four years.
Mr. Johnston said that the RCMP has an excellent longstanding relationship with the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and will continue to advance and foster that relationship.
"The RCMP in Canada have different technologies in disciplines in policing that we can share those resources and assist in areas such as DNA testing.
If it would not be feasible to have a lab here, we can certainly assist in incidents of major crimes to use those technical advances to assist with those cases here. We have done that in the past with other countries in the region. Its not been necessary here, because it is a peaceful country compared to others in the region," said Johnston.
He said the request from the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is to look at "expertise in court case files, succession planning to make sure the Police Department is modernising, how to look at court case files and how to solve crimes, also looking at succession planning to make sure that the police department is modernising and keeping up the long term vision and shift scheduling."
Mr. Johnston added that the RCMP has a system where "we input all the crime information
the times they occur, the areas they occur and we build our shift schedules from that information."
He said that on his return to Jamaica, he will prepare a report and submit it to the Canadian High Commissioner in Barbados, who will continue discussions with Prime Minister Douglas.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police official said the law enforcement agency has also been assisting local lawmen in drug enforcement training. "We have just recently completed the chemical precursor course in Kingston and one of your officers was there. Prior to that we hosted an advanced drug investigators workshop in Montego Bay, Jamaica some six weeks ago and one of your officers was there. A lot of training each year and St. Kitts will see three to five positions on international training.
