Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

Forty police recruits in training at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Academy at Twickenham Park in St Catherine were last week introduced to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and its operations.

Their visit to the exchange occurred one week before their graduation from training school.

And while the ability to shoot straight, knowledge of the law, and policing techniques are standard for trainees, this tour was not about financial crime.

It was a familiarisation tour that concluded a course in financial management introduced at the academy by JCF lecturer, Corporal Coleridge Minto.

"One of the problems we have is police who are not able to handle money or investments," said Minto.

"With this visit to the stock exchange, the intention is that, if they decide to trade, they will have the basic information."

Training programme

The recruits completed a six-month programme of training, which for the first time at the college, included finance and wealth management.

But with a new philosophy to turn out a police officer equipped both for the job and with tools for personal growth, the courses also cover ethics and social graces, psychology and sociology.

"The perception that police are going nowhere and doing nothing is not true," said Minto, adding that such courses can produce competent and, he hopes, corruption-immune members of the JCF.

Himself a corporal with seven years service in the JCF, Minto possesses a first degree in business administration and has almost completed the executive master's in business administration in finance, offered by Florida International University.

'Equity investment is for everyone'

The visit by recruits revived a sermon that general manager Marlene Street-Forrest does not mind preaching: equity investment is for everyone.

"It is important that these officers know the different types of investment and the importance of equities as a part of any portfolio which they will have in the future. It is the best form of investment for the long term," said Street-Forrest.

"They need to concentrate on what will happen when they reach pensionable age. Today, they have learned about the stock exchange - the risks, rewards and opportunities available to them. It will enhance their entire outlook in relation to savings and investment."

Indeed, all schools and colleges, she said, should take their students.

Corporal Robert Dallas, 24-year-old trainee from Clarendon, said that the most interesting aspect of the visit was the information on how stocks moved in value and how one could later sell at a profit.

"Before this, I had a little idea, but not much. Now I feel more comfortable knowing more," Dallas told Sunday Business.

Demonstrating his new-found savvy, Constable Gawayne Martin, 21, from Portmore, St Catherine, said the JCF course in financial management added to his knowledge base.

Saving important

"It is not what you earn that is important," he said, "it's what you save."

Added Daedre Blackstock, 26, who has previous training in business subjects: "I had knowledge of stocks and shares, but in relation to the long-term rewards, I was not fully informed. I intend to read more too."

Their lecturer, Corporal Minto, stated that the course would be continued for the next batch of trainees.

"I want to contribute to developing a police person who is well rounded and not just informed in police law and procedure," he said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com