BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NINETEEN officers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) were today (Nov. 13) presented certificates after successfully completing two Office of Professional Standards Courses in Internal Affairs Investigation and Audit and Inspection.
The Graduation Ceremony was held at the Police Training Complex in Basseterre, and while 15 of the graduates are now certified Internal Affairs Investigators, 19 of them are certified Audit and Inspection Officers.
Addressing the graduates, Permanent Secretary for the Anti-Crime Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, Her Excellency Mrs. Astona Browne admonished them to adhere to the high ideals of the Federation’s premier law enforcement body.
“I wish to commend you, the officers, who have successfully undergone this course of training and I admonish you to adhere to the high ideals of this agency.
“I would like to use this forum to inform that this government’s approach to law enforcement, safety and security in general, is not ad hoc, but is part of a well-structured strategy that gives priority to the implementation of a plan of action with focus on capacity building, infrastructural development and overall advancement using available technology.
She informed the gathering, which included Gary Bennett of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Programme (ICITAP) in the Department of Justice, Course Facilitators Michael Stiers and Donald Lizotte, Police Commissioner Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn and other Senior Officers of the of the RSCNPF, that the Federation is moving forward on all fronts and that the graduates must step up their game as professionals in the Force.
Ambassador Browne charged the graduates to “use the knowledge and the skills gained to make that shift that will redound to the improved dispensation of service to the public and to the agency, as a whole, as law enforcement officers”.
Earlier in her address, Ambassador Browne, on behalf of the Anti-Crime Unit, registered appreciation to Bennett and the facilitators for availing themselves, their expertise and their time for the successful completion of the courses.
Browne informed that ICITAP is known for its collaborative efforts with governments in developing, promoting and advancing professionalism and transparency in law enforcement institutions, and that she was advised that areas such as human rights protection, combating corruption, and reducing incidents of transnational crime and terrorism were included in the range of topics imparted to the graduates.
“Given the wide gamut of expertise in the area of public safety that falls under the remit of ICITAP, we are convinced that the information disseminated over the two-week period of training for our law enforcement officers would contribute significantly to our own capacity building initiative,” she added.
Ambassador Browne declared that with the establishment of an Internal Affairs Unit in the RSCNPF, it would provide the mechanism for processing of matters involving police officers, police complaints, and complaints against the police by the public.
She reminded the officers of what the Labour Party Administration had instituted to enable them to demonstrate professionalism and transparency in execution of their mandated role.
“A few weeks ago, our government provided the legislative support to enable the law enforcement officers to demonstrate the professionalism and the transparency required in the performance of their duties as public security officials. The Public Complaints Act of 2014 will provide for a mechanism to process the investigation of public complaints against the police.
“In modern day policing, this is mandatory and required to allow for the transparency and the professionalism that would accompany the performance your duties as law enforcement officers. I therefore would like to emphasise for the record that our motive is clear and, as long as you as law enforcement officers are loyal to your oath and professional in the execution of your duties, you will get the respect due to you by your colleagues and the public that you serve.”
Meanwhile, Browne informed the gathering that with the assistance of the European Union, the Security Training Academy at Lime Kiln is under construction and would soon be available with modern facilities to accommodate training such as the those completed today.
“The Five Year Security Training Plan is also part of the curriculum review which is also ongoing, and this would make provision for developing expertise in new and emerging areas of crime fighting, such as cyber crime and training in using the forensics to ensure that our crime detection rate improves,” she added.
In his brief remarks, Commissioner Walwyn congratulated the participants of the course and made reference to his experience whilst serving as a law enforcement officer in the US.
“I want to congratulate all of you for attending and passing this course. It is something that we do in St. Kitts and Nevis, and I myself have been subjected to Internal Affairs investigations while I was a police officer in Texas and in Florida. In Texas I got involved in a shooting and it had to be investigated. Of course, I was cleared! In Florida I got complaints because I didn’t play when I was working traffic. People don’t like when you impose the law sometimes, so they complain on you. But every time I was investigated I was cleared.”
He told the officers that Internal Affairs or Professional Standards is not their enemy and that the public must be trustful of the police and must believe that the police would investigate their own.
“We have clearly showed this with the recent arrest of one of our officers for smuggling marijuana across to Nevis. There are other investigations pending right now. The Inspector in charge of Internal Affairs has just completed some of those investigations and there are others still pending beyond those.
“We do investigate our own and where the chips fall, they fall. But you as the students of this class and supervisors in the field, you now know what is expected of you to maintain the public’s trust and to maintain the trust among your peers within the torment. We must be able to show that we can police our own and everything we do must be documented or the public will not trust you. So, from today, I will ask you not to put this training on the shelf but to use it and help regain the trust that the public is looking for in the police,” the Commissioner said.
He, too, thanked Bennett and the facilitators as well the Commandant of the Police Training School, Superintendent Lionel Moore, and all other officers who had contributed to the success of the two courses.
