Regional Joint Force merely speculative…says COP
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Commissioner of Police, Austin Williams
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -HEAD of the Royal St. Kitts and Nevis Police Force, Commissioner Austin Williams, in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes said that the proposed CARICOM “Rapid Deployment Regional Joint Force” was nothing more than a “thought” at this point and time.
The Rapid Deployment Regional Joint Force was proposed at the 13th Special Meeting of CARICOM Heads on April 4-5 as one way to combat the increasing problem of crime and drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
“We have a meeting scheduled next week on the 17th and 18th to discuss the Joint Force,” said Williams, “but right now our main focus is on re-establishing the security measures we put in place during the Cricket World Cup.”
Some of the security aspects from Cricket World Cup that are expected to be expanded and made a permanent facet of regional security include the Advanced Passenger Information System, the Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre and the Joint Regional Communications Centre.
When asked if a Regional Joint Force might affect the funding or training of the already existent Regional Security System (RSS) of which the Federation is a member, the Commissioner said it was “too early to speculate”. ~~Adz:Right~~
The RSS operates much like the proposed Regional Joint Force would, a group of member states working collaboratively to meet the security needs of the region, but the RSS functions on a much smaller scale, with more emphasis on natural disaster relief and annual military exercises than regional policing.
Williams went on to say that the future of the RSS depends more upon funding than anything else. “It costs a great deal of money for training operations, and much of the RSS’s funding from the United States has been reduced because of the Iraq war.
“If the RSS were to get its U.S. funding back, I don’t think the Regional Joint Force would have any effect upon its operations,” said the commissioner.
The Canadian government recently announced that it plans to double its yearly funding to the RSS from US $30M to US $60M, but as a gradual process over the next 10 years.
