POLICE OFFICERS RETURN FROM HIGH LEVEL TRAINING

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]wo city police officers returned from Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday after successful participation in a security training exercise.

Sergeant Yone Camchon and Officer Joshua Lubin from the City Police Department of Saint Lucia were among participants from over ten Caribbean countries at the recent undertaking. The three-day intensive training programme was conducted by the Miami Dade College and the Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety.

Julio Pinera, a bomb technician and former Secret Service and FBI agent, shared strategies and best practices in operational planning for security, threat and vulnerability assessment, loss prevention strategies, incident response, physical security checks, terrorism awareness and prevention, personnel selection and training, employee fraud and social engineering.

Sergeant Camchon noted that he was honoured to have been chosen to attend the exercise. He intends to put into practice what was taught to help make Castries a safer city.

“The experience was quite amazing,” he said. “I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s going to be a huge benefit to the City Police Department as I share the information from the training with my colleagues. I’ve participated in a number of training programmes over my 15-year career, but none compared to what we were taught and the information that has been provided as part of this recent training.”

Officer Lubin referred to the training as “incredibly professional”.

“It was an eye-opener for me and I will use the training as a guide in executing my responsibilities,” he shared.

In congratulating the officers, His Worship, Mayor Peterson D. Francis expressed hope that the knowledge and expertise acquired will be put to good use in the discharge of their duties. He stated that municipal policing is a global concern and everyone should be involved. According to the Mayor, the efforts must be ramped up to combat the threats to security. Francis
has confirmed that officers will be given the opportunity to embark on similar training initiatives in the future. Just last month, 13 city police officers completed a month-long training programme at the Police Training Academy.