Police gets training lab

Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin (FP)

Mon, January 30, 2012 - 8:00 AM

THE UNITED STATES has presented the Regional Police Training Centre with a US$30 000 training lab that will help the police fight cybercrime.

The lab is to support first responder training within the region and boost the agency’s capacity to provide law enforcement training.

The training lab includes 12 computers fully equipped with specialized training software, laptops for instructors, projectors, digital cameras and other equipment.

It was officially handed over to Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin, by the United States Embassy’s Acting Charge d’Affaires Brian Greaney on Friday during the closing ceremony for the Identification and Seizure of Digital Evidence Course, where 16 officers graduated.

Greaney explained that the course, which was sponsored by the embassy, in conjunction with the Department of United State’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance Programme (ATA), was designed to teach first responders to crimes and incidents how to identify, seize and package digital evidence for submission for forensics examination.

He said the course was taught by ATA-trained instructors from Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, who were mentored by senior ATA instructor Tom Bureau.

“This course is an excellent example of the continued cooperation between the United States and the nations of the Caribbean as we work to increase security in our shared region,” he said.

“The United States is committed to increasing law enforcement capacity in the Caribbean, training officers from across the region . . . .”

Dottin told the police officers he hoped the course was useful, that it had enriched their self-development and that what they have learnt would be useful to the Royal Barbados Police Force.

The commissioner said: “No matter how successful we are as a police agency, we must always seek to do better to stay on top of our game . . . . We can never stand still in law enforcement. We cannot live on yesterday’s successes; we must look towards the future and improve.” (AH)