Noel Thompson, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM) is embarking on a drive to provide top-level training for the police forces in all member-states in the region, through the Council of Ministers of National Security.
Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, made the announcement while addressing the 63rd annual Police Feder-ation at the Starfish Resort in Trelawny last Thursday.
"CARICOM plans to develop a network of institutions to undertake training of the highest level of policing for all the member-states," Dr. Phillips disclosed. "This is an issue which is important if we are to complete our capacities for providing for our own security as independent countries."
Dr. Phillips said that, in order to effectively eradicate crime across the region and to provide the specialist training needed, there would have to be a regional collaboration among all the CARICOM member-states.
REGIONAL FORCE
The National Security Minister's announcement concurred with earlier senti-ments expressed by Jamaican police and their regional counterparts who were specially invited guests at the conference.
Sergeant Michael Sobers, president of the Barbados Police Association, suggested the Caribbean could benefit from the formation of a regional police force when the CARICOM Single Market and Economy comes fully into being.
"In forging that gap, there would be more nexus in terms of agreements, sharing of knowledge and improvements," he said.
