BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MEMBERS of the Regional Security System (RSS) Training Institute Practice Committee is currently meeting in St. Kitts to set policies for the standardisation and accreditation of all training for law enforcement personnel through a number of standing committees in the OECS and Barbados.
The five-day meeting started yesterday morning (Oct. 1) at the Bird Rock Beach Hotel Conference Room following an opening ceremony at the same venue.
Speaking with SKNVibes, Director of Training within the Training Institute Secretariat, Commander Tyrone James said that the RSS is also designed to provide certified transportable qualifications to police officers which would be beneficial to them should they be transferred to another country or after leaving the police force.
“This is being done so that they can be recognised in the industry,” he said. “We have a situation where police officers leave after 20, 30 years, and in many countries you find them working as security guards because they have not gotten the qualification to match the higher education, or even recognised in the industry. So this is one of the foundation’s reasons.”
James said it was not only the training but also the overall improvement of the police officers and the conditions under which they worked.
“We can’t just single out training as one issue, but training personal development, conditions of work…a lot of that have to be addressed. We did a survey in 2009 and went around to all the members doing a brief analysis. We found disturbing trends in the member states and it had to do with not only equality of training but also the opportunities for police officers to develop themselves professionally and academically. We also found there were issues other than training such as the conditions they were functioning were quite deplorable.”
He declared that they train mid-level to upper mid-level officers - inspectors and above - in strategy management, leadership, etc.
James also declared that in November plans are on the front burner to have a Crime Scene Trainee Trainers Course, where they would train instructors who will then be able to conduct crime processing courses in January.
This, he added, would be done in each member state of the RSS.
In delivering his welcome remarks at the opening ceremony, Commissioner of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Celvin G. Walwyn said they are looking forward to whatever training that would be put in place to help police officers, as it would contribute in crime reduction.
He explained that in the United States, once a person is credited in one state they are eligible to work in other states and that he is looking forward for the same to happen in the RSS member states.
“Training began in St. Kitts-Nevis about eight months ago, and if a person wanted to go and work in the US they can do so because they would have already had the standardised training,” he said.
Walwyn stated that crime went down by 63 percent January to August this year compared to last year, particularly after some changes were made due to the training members of the local police force received.
The feature address was delivered by Permanent Secretary for the Anti-Crime Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, Her Excellency Astona Browne, who said that the region understood the whole issue of public security which requires the shared partnership and responsibility of all concerned.
“The interest of our national, traditional and non-traditional partners in this regard, on this all important matter of safety and security cannot be over emphasised. It is imperative that we endeavour to cope with the reality that changing cultural value significantly impacted the current crime trend in our region. More than ever we have come to appreciate the need for increase interdependence among the member state of the international community, and especially our own region, in addressing transnational organised crime,” she said.
She said that on the issue of narcotics training, small countries are like targets between the consuming nation of the north and the producing country of the south.
Browne stressed that there is a need to strengthen our capabilities to strategise in dealing with the serious effects of the fallout of the drug trade and the small transshipment stage of the region, along with a need to develop our own maritime capabilities to intercept the perpetrators who may “fly our waters in the pursuit of their illicit trade”.
“As we grabble with the fact that we are not manufacturers of these deadly weapons, we must continue to develop mechanism that will build our capacity in addressing the negative,” she added.
Browne ended by stating that the meeting is timely as it is focusing on devising a strategy for capacity building in the areas of law enforcement, in particular, and security in general.
Other members of the Training Institute Secretariat are Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jean Claude Amedee, who is the Assistant Staff Officer, and Administrative NCO Sergeant Elvis Thomas.
The meeting is being facilitated by Curriculum Development Specialist Gerard Phillip with ASP Tafawa Pierre of Grenada as the committee’s chairperson with committee members ASP Wendel Robinson of Antigua and Barbuda, Inspector David Wiltshire of Barbados, Superintendent David Andrew of Dominica, Superintendent Moses James of St. Lucia, Superintendent Frankie Joseph of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Inspector Lionel Moore of St. Kitts and Nevis.
