Friday, December 9, 2023, the closing and certificate ceremony took place at the National Police College of Jamaica (NPCJ) in Sainte Catherine, of the first cohort of 16 Haitian police officers trained in security screening interview techniques during of a one-week course.

This training program, which aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Haitian National Police (PNH) is led in particular by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

On the sidelines of this ceremony, Horace Chang, the Minister of National Security declared "[..] This enhanced capacity will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in improving security responses by helping to identify and neutralise potential threats before they escalate" and reiterated Jamaica's commitment to facilitating the training of the HNP as part of a long-term strategy "We will continue to play our part in supporting the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS) to Haiti to help rebuild and standardise the security infrastructure, the local electoral system, health and the social and political arrangements in the country."

In her intervention, Emina Tudakovic, the High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, declared that the training program is part of the common priorities of the governments of Canada, Jamaica and the CARICOM countries to restore peace and stability in Haiti.

The Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, congratulated the participants on the successful completion of the training program and noted that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) was ready to assist in other areas. "There are certainly opportunities for expansion into other areas of policing. We are quite willing to share some of the policing tools we have been using as well as the support structures such as our legislative resources that better enable our policing efforts. We will continue to support the programme and look forward to the gradual impact this initiative will have on Haiti's security landscape and by extension the region."

A second group of Haitian police officers arrived in Jamaica on December 9 to follow a training session.

SL/ HaitiLibre