BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN an effort to standardised the fight against crime, compile evidence and secure convictions of cases, police forces within the OECS will be undertaking a series of training programmes to have ranks better trained in these areas.
This pronouncement was made at the recent conclusion of the inaugural Canadian-funded First Responders Course, which was conducted by the Regional Security System (RSS) at the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force’ Training School in Basseterre.
According to Debbie Desrosiers, Political Counselor of the Canadian High Commission in Barbados, the OECS member states are working to have a standard way in which crime should be fought throughout the sub-region region, and that the Canadian Government is partnering with the RSS to undertake the programme.
“This course is part of a three-year-plus programme that we worked with, with the RSS following a needs assessment undertaken by our Royal Canadian Mountain Police in each of the individual police force throughout the OECS. And they have identified the need for standardised training, so we put support behind,” Desrosiers said.
She explained that under the ‘Needs Assessment’ that was undertaken, they had found the requirement to have more First Responders training, noting that “it is quite technical how you go about preserving evidence and ensuring that it will stand up in the Court to get a conviction”.
Desrosiers told SKNVibes that the programme is just over two years old and would be coming to an end shortly.
“It started two and a half years ago and now we are almost to the end and I’m very thrilled to be here today to see this first course.
“I understand they have two more planned in the next month under the same theme and also the institute who have been working with the monies provided to also develop basic training that would be standardised across the police forces. There is also a number of different courses that would follow.”
“It’s not just a one off thing! They have been working to develop policies that can be shared across the region and it’s really quite exciting, actually,” she added.
When asked if the assessment found that regional police forces were delinquent in the way they handled evidence and crime scenes, the Political Counselor said: “Not so much delinquent, we were looking to support standardisation. Much of our work in the region is regional programming as oppose to bi-lateral country to country programming. So, we really wanted to support the idea of the Regional Security System.”
The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force is currently undertaking the second of its First Responders training programme, which will be attended by ranks from the local police force as well as their counterparts from Antigua/Barbuda and Dominica.
