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Security help from Canada
Karin Dear, Nation Newspaper (Barbados), 19 Nov 06
Article Link
DRUGS, PROSTITUTION, TERRORISM – in that order.
That's how Caribbean security forces representing top level police, border, and immigration officials have ranked the increased risks facing the nine host countries preparing for Cricket World Cup (CWC) which is just four months away.
It's the challenge of a lifetime, say two top Canadian security officials who are in Barbados this month to address those concerns and heighten the awareness of the region's security forces, including the military, through a series of intense training courses that are already well underway.
"We've included all sections of the Barbados security forces which would be police, customs, immigration, the Coast Guard and some military," Senior Intelligence Officer John Bothwell, who represents the Canada Border Service Agency, told the SUNDAY SUN during an exclusive interview Thursday night.
Together with Don Dupasquier, project manager with International Training Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), they will spend about a month training representatives to employ an "integrated and co-ordinated approach" to any increased threats that might arise during an influx of thousands of visitors from every part of the globe.
"The focus of what we are doing is trying to raise their awareness of the importance of inter-agency integration and co-operation so they realise that they can't do their jobs to the best of their abilities without the involvement of other agencies,"said Bothwell.
"When we first got here there was a serrated approach and that is found throughout the islands where the police are the enforcement agency and customs and immigration are a civilian organisation," he said.
"But they (local and regional security forces) are very receptive to the intense three-day course which we are giving and which runs about nine hours per day," he said. "It's problem-based learning where we walk them through a problem that forces them to realise integration works, and they are very receptive and excited about the training."
There are 45 candidates on each course and by the time the month is over about 145 security personnel will be well-armed with additional crime-busting expertise.
"We divide them into syndicates which comprise all the agencies so we have five syndicates of nine – customs, immigration military and police all together – and they must work together," explained Bothwell, who along with a number of course graduates, was being honoured at a reception at the official Morningside, Pine Road residence of Canadian High Commissioner Michael Welsh.
"Obviously, the No. 1 risk in the Caribbean is drugs," insisted the intelligence officer. "They (the host islands as well as the remaining 14 states) have such an under-manned force, and there is so much coastline that it is difficult to look after. And that presents the biggest problem and challenge to them, as well as inter-island co-operation."
Add to the mix a large number of "floating hotels" which will be anchored along unprotected shores throughout the islands during the World Cup event, and the challenges can become overwhelming.
In North America, stated RCMP representative Dupasquier, "the model of integrated policing has been adopted for a long, long time."
So, with Cricket World Cup coming, it gave us a wonderful opportunity to springboard into the area.
Security help from Canada
Karin Dear, Nation Newspaper (Barbados), 19 Nov 06
Article Link
DRUGS, PROSTITUTION, TERRORISM – in that order.
That's how Caribbean security forces representing top level police, border, and immigration officials have ranked the increased risks facing the nine host countries preparing for Cricket World Cup (CWC) which is just four months away.
It's the challenge of a lifetime, say two top Canadian security officials who are in Barbados this month to address those concerns and heighten the awareness of the region's security forces, including the military, through a series of intense training courses that are already well underway.
"We've included all sections of the Barbados security forces which would be police, customs, immigration, the Coast Guard and some military," Senior Intelligence Officer John Bothwell, who represents the Canada Border Service Agency, told the SUNDAY SUN during an exclusive interview Thursday night.
Together with Don Dupasquier, project manager with International Training Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), they will spend about a month training representatives to employ an "integrated and co-ordinated approach" to any increased threats that might arise during an influx of thousands of visitors from every part of the globe.
"The focus of what we are doing is trying to raise their awareness of the importance of inter-agency integration and co-operation so they realise that they can't do their jobs to the best of their abilities without the involvement of other agencies,"said Bothwell.
"When we first got here there was a serrated approach and that is found throughout the islands where the police are the enforcement agency and customs and immigration are a civilian organisation," he said.
"But they (local and regional security forces) are very receptive to the intense three-day course which we are giving and which runs about nine hours per day," he said. "It's problem-based learning where we walk them through a problem that forces them to realise integration works, and they are very receptive and excited about the training."
There are 45 candidates on each course and by the time the month is over about 145 security personnel will be well-armed with additional crime-busting expertise.
"We divide them into syndicates which comprise all the agencies so we have five syndicates of nine – customs, immigration military and police all together – and they must work together," explained Bothwell, who along with a number of course graduates, was being honoured at a reception at the official Morningside, Pine Road residence of Canadian High Commissioner Michael Welsh.
"Obviously, the No. 1 risk in the Caribbean is drugs," insisted the intelligence officer. "They (the host islands as well as the remaining 14 states) have such an under-manned force, and there is so much coastline that it is difficult to look after. And that presents the biggest problem and challenge to them, as well as inter-island co-operation."
Add to the mix a large number of "floating hotels" which will be anchored along unprotected shores throughout the islands during the World Cup event, and the challenges can become overwhelming.
In North America, stated RCMP representative Dupasquier, "the model of integrated policing has been adopted for a long, long time."
So, with Cricket World Cup coming, it gave us a wonderful opportunity to springboard into the area.
