About 17 countries are in New Providence for the next two weeks to participate in an International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) conference that police officials hope will bring about a clear roadmap to thwart organised crime and drug trafficking.
The conference is being held under the theme “Capacity Building Training in the Fight against Drugs and Organised Crime.”
At the opening ceremony at the Paul H. Farquharson Centre at the Police Headquarters yesterday, Assistant Superintendent of Police Telinda Missick, who is the Director of INTERPOL in The Bahamas, spoke about what she would like to see out of the conference.
“Over the next 12 days, the participants of this training course will be exposed to a wide-range of professional training and best practices. This training course is geared towards sharing, strengthening and improving our methodology of dealing with transnational crimes and related issues,” she said.
Director of Capacity Building and Training INTERPOL General Secretariat Dale Sheehan spoke about what this training session means for INTERPOL, which is based in France.
He said the international crime fighting organisation is looking to do more programmes in the Caribbean.
“Although our main focus is drugs, I can also assure you that we are targeting all types of organised crimes; for transnational crime has not boundaries and we will all work collectively on this. INTERPOL’s tools and services are paramount in this endeavour to achieving success by bringing together officers in the region, who are responsible for the international cooperation. We will continue to eradicate drugs and crimes. This programme turns training into practice. It is three-phase approach – training, capacity building and operations,” Mr. Sheehan said.
“Part of the work that we will be doing here over the next few weeks is planning an operation in the Caribbean. INTERPOL will also be announcing a strong criminal analysis programme in the Caribbean. We just kicked it off in Montreal and our next two programmes will be down here in the Caribbean. One of the things that we are trying to do is spread our communications and our objectives as we work together towards combating international crime. ”
Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade said the launch of the programme in The Bahamas will bring about the best practices.
“The launch of this training initiative here in The Bahamas is another clear indication of INTERPOL’s commitment to capacity building in police forces worldwide and for this we are very, very grateful. It fulfils an urgent need to further sensitise and train police officers and the law enforcement partners to effectively deal with emerging global threats such as trafficking of persons, human smuggling, trafficking illicit goods, weapons and drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money laundering and a long list of other crimes,” he said.
“All of these crimes fall within the criminal purview of organised crimes groups. The focus for the next two weeks therefore will be on organised crime, its significant global reach and effective law enforcement interventions.”
National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage said the people trafficking drugs will stop at nothing to get it to its destination and so law enforcement agencies must stop at nothing to stop them.
“It is this great danger which makes everything we do even more important. They must not succeed. We must succeed. International cooperation to address the drug problem is founded upon the principle of shared responsibility – a mutual commitment to common goals. Drugs can and do flow through borders from one society to another and from trafficking to abuse,” he said.
“There is a need then for continued and enhanced regional cooperation, coordination and information exchange among law enforcement authorities in the region. Also required is the more effective management of border control and addressing more vigorously the proceeds of drug trafficking.”
