BASSTERRE, St. Kitts – SPECIAL ADVISOR to the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Norgen Wilson told members of the recently-concluded Regional Security System Advanced Patrol Course that regardless of a country’s size, the security forces must battle criminality because the fight against crime is key to social stability.
Dr. Wilson was at the time delivering the feature address to 27 members of Police and Defence Forces from five CARICOM Member States who had successfully completed the four-week course.
The Closing Ceremony was held on Friday (Nov. 28) in the Conference Room of the Customs and Excise Department in Bird Rock, where Dr. Wilson spoke extensively on transnational organised crime and the region’s collaborative role in fighting against it and other forms of criminality.
He told the officers that as members of the RSS, islands in the Eastern Caribbean are seeking to create a community of trust to increase information sharing; promote criminal justice legal reform to give the region modern crime fighting tools; build up air and sea assets; and introduce recognised best practices for modern policing through operational mentors in the areas of counter-narcotics intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Dr. Wilson noted that though islands in the Eastern Caribbean are not major drug producers, cannabis could found under cultivation in cane fields, gullies and even enclosed yards in homes, and that cocaine is imported from South America.
“Cocaine continues to be imported using pleasure boats, cargo vessels, yachts, fishing vessels and ‘go fast’ boats. Shipments of illicit drugs may be transferred at sea at predestined GPS coordinates for retrieval by local vessels at sea and may then be landed on our beaches.
“The majority of cocaine is believed to be sourced from Columbia, after which it transits through Venezuela, Trinidad and or Guyana before entering our islands and is then exported to Europe and or North America.”
The reserve army officer however informed that the RSS estimates that less than 10 percent of all illegal drug shipments are successfully intercepted in the region.
He stated that transnational crime is not what it used to be, noting it is now more sophisticated and resolute, and that is why the RSS continues to have intensive training.
“Whether one is the world’s leading superpower like the United States of America or the smallest nation like many of us represented here today, national security is the pivot on which all else turns. We battle criminality because, regardless of size or stature, the fight against crime is key to social stability.
“We battle criminality because without such a fight the gears of our economic engines become completely jammed. And we battle criminality because criminality unchecked is a threat to the political system on which any credible, legitimate government stands.”
Dr. Norgen pointed out that a critical component for crime and security, instituted by the CARICOM Heads of the joint crime-fighting mechanism, is information sharing which is implemented through the security forces that are tasked to work collaboratively at the national and regional levels in addressing security interests.
“Indeed, we have seen the positive outcome of this collaborative approach in various areas of operations, whether it is border security where movement of individuals across our borders must be closely monitored, or whether it is spatial and aerial surveillance, as our officers work strategically to stem illicit trafficking in firearms, drugs or human in our waters, or to give humanitarian assistance in times of national disaster,” he added.
The politician congratulated the participants and wished them every success in the execution of their duty as law enforcement officers.
The four-week course was aimed at assessing the ability and resourcefulness of the participants to survive and operate in a hostile environment with limited logistical and manpower support.
It was conducted in St. Kitts and Nevis and hosted by the Federation’s Defence Force with Barbadian national Warrant Officer Class One (WO1) Christopher Blenman as the Course Officer.
He was ably assisted by the RSS Force Sergeant Major, WO1 Dave Caismira and six Sergeants - two from Barbados, one each from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadine, and two from St. Kitts and Nevis – while one Private from Barbados was the Medic.
The participants were drawn from the Antigua-Barbuda Defence Force (2), the Royal Antigua-Barbuda Police Force (2), Barbados Defence Force (2), the Royal Barbados Police Force (3), the Royal Grenada Police Force (5), the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (4), the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (7), and two from the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force.
