Top cop rallies graduates
Published:Saturday | February 13, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington said the security forces in Jamaica must quickly forge a partnership with other law-enforcement agencies to combat crime.
Ellington was the keynote speaker at a graduation ceremony related to a three-week course on maritime interdiction in which 20 members of the security forces participated.
The class comprised 16 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, three from the Jamaica Defence Force and one from the Island Special Constabulary Force.
Participants were trained in intercepting and boarding vessels that might be trying to commit criminal acts in Jamaican territorial waters.
"I think the course is very relevant to our crime-fighting initiatives, as crime fighting has now taken on drugs, weapons, and now terrorism is the added component. Therefore, we have to be prepared," Ellington said.
The programme was sponsored by the United States government, which provided the trainers from the US Coast Guard.
Chairman of the workshop, Deputy Superintendent of Police Samuel Morgan, told the graduates that the course would equip them to defend the nation.