Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 16, 2016 (SKNIS): On Friday (December 16), twenty-three law enforcement and military soldiers from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and host St. Kitts and Nevis successfully completed the Regional Security System (RSS) Training Institute Section Leaders Course 2016 and are now better positioned to fight transnational crime.
The six-week course was designed to train junior leaders and potential junior leaders with the requisite skills and knowledge needed to command and train members of the Special Services Unit (SSU) or similar units in their respective countries or other member states.
Assistant Superintendant of Police, Randy Connaught, of Grenada, is the Assistant Staff Officer Plans at the RSS. He said that when the 25 men and women assembled at Camp Springfield, in Basseterre for the opening on November 07, 2016, very few were fully prepared for the task ahead.
“Their discipline was up to par and today I am proud to report that they have all risen to the challenge. The participants bonded together and exemplified the motto of the RSS: ‘Strength through Unity,’” he said.
The participants explored various subject matter including weapons training, field craft, land navigation, physical training, preparation of lesson plans, internal security, key point defense, operations, orders and drills. They also sat written mid-term and final course exams. Two of the participants were not able to complete the training.
Captain (Retd) Brian Roberts, Director of Training for RSS, said these types of leadership development programmes are important as the region faces an ever evolving regional security threat posed by drugs and arms trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering and other transnational crimes.
“Operating in this environment requires skills which you have incurred throughout the course,” he said. Capt. Roberts saluted the men and women for their dedication to ensuring a stable regional security environment and reminded that their efforts will contribute directly to the peaceful development of the region.
