Police Commissioner Vernon Francois
The Royal St. Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) is gearing for an intensified period of both in-house and overseas training and development programmes for police officers.
Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said the training opportunities will deal with various dimensions of policing, however they are all aimed at helping to further equip the police in the professional and efficient discharge of their duties.
“The Royal St. Lucia Police Force is committed to training its membership as we operate in a dynamic environment. We are proposing to capitalize on both local and overseas training opportunities as we seek to engender a more efficient and professional police force.”
Superintendant of Police responsible for Corporate Services and Community Policing Severin Moncherry said community policing is one of the focus areas where training will be provided.
“Over the past years as part of its policing plans the Royal St. Lucia Police Force has focused its attention towards community policing. One would appreciate that community policing involves partnering with relevant stakeholders to fight crime and social disorder. In order to use community policing as a successful crime fighting tool the police must build trust and regain public confidence. The training we believe can help in protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens. Fifty percent of the persons trained will be from the operational units.”
The two community policing courses to be held during this month, will benefit 50 police officers from around the island. The first leg of the course will take place from February 17- 21, 2014 and the next from February 24 – 28, 2014.
In addition, members of the RSLPF will also be engaging in training activity that centers on human rights and humanitarian law.
The training, funded by the government of St. Lucia, will be conducted by resource persons from the RSLPF.
Meantime, still on its calendar of training programmes, two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), will attend a training programme hosted by the Regional Drug Law Enforcement Training Centre, REDTRAC in Jamaica. The training programme is based on the topic ‘Financial Investigation’ and will take place from the 17 – 28, February, 2014.