Police Miss Out On More US Training

The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) is still blacklisted by the US State Department, this even with the IMPACS investigation and ensuing report into alleged wrongdoing by members of the RSLPF now before the DPP and in the hands of the US agency (according to the prime minister). On Sunday, May 31, military and security forces from several Caribbean nations joined the United States, Canada, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mexico, and the United Kingdom for maritime security and disaster response training at Camp Springfield in St. Kitts as part of Exercise Tradewinds 2015. Left out of the exercise were participants from the RSLPF.

This year’s Exercise Tradewinds will be conducted in three phases: Phase I will include maritime and land operations and will take place in St. Kitts and Nevis through June 9; Phase II will include maritime and land operations, including U.S. Marines in Belize June 15-24; Phase III, a Key Leader Seminar, will be conducted July 14-16 in Miami for key stakeholders and decision makers from the region.

Exercise Tradewinds supports the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a U.S. Department of State regional security partnership.

Military and police personnel from 13 CARICOM member states (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago) will join military personnel from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Dominican Republic for Phase I of Exercise Tradewinds 2015.

Participating regional organizations include the Regional Security System (RSS), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Caribbean Disaster Response Unit (CRDU), CARICOM (IMPACS), and the Regional Intelligence Fusion Center (RIFC).