Commissioner Walwyn and Gary Bennett
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
September 30, 2013 (SKNIS)
Improving law enforcement in St. Kitts and Nevis was prominently discussed during a recent meeting between Commissioner of Police Celvin G. Walwyn and Gary Bennett of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Programme (ICITAP).
The two men also explored ways of standardizing training for police officers in member states of the Regional Security System (RSS). This fits into one of the primary goals of the ICITAP to foster international and regional cooperation on transnational crime strategies, border security, technological compatibility and forensic investigations.
Commissioner Walwyn, who is a licensed police instructor in both Florida and Texas and the author of a police training manual used in Houston and now in the federation’s police training school, said the talks were “very positive.”
He added that the goal of the St. Kitts and Nevis Police Training School is to become a strategic center of excellence for RSS countries. The Commissioner explained that this goal is a very strong possibility as there has been training involving regional officers in advanced law enforcement courses over the last 18 months. The demand for participation has been significant and organisers have had to turn down requests from other countries to train their recruits due to capacity limits.
“Officers from as far as Barbados, St. Lucia, and Dominica have received advanced training right here at our training school in the last 18 months and more regional training is planned,” revealed Commissioner Walwyn. “We welcome the ICITAP assistance and look forward to the day when the Federation is as common a training name, as any of the big three in the Caribbean,” he stated referring to Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad.
ICITAP is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division, and is the DOJ’s lead international police development agency.