INCREASED REPORTS OF CRIME and harassment against visitors to the island has spurred the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Authority (BHTA) to step up its training of security officers employed by members of the organization.
Just over 100 security officers received some vital training recently.
President Patricia Affonso-Dass explained that the workshops conducted recently by Jeffrey Howell, former Royal Barbados Police Force tourism liaison officer, were geared to retraining security personnel within the industry and improving their skills.
“Safety and security are very important elements of our tourism product and we need to ensure that our security personnel are well trained and equipped to deal with any criminal activity that may affect visitors and locals who vacation at our properties, dine at our restaurants or visit our attractions,” Dass explained.
She added that BHTA members were faced with more harassment, crime against visitors, illegal vending and drug pushing among other criminal activity in high traffic tourism areas, and to this end the association revitalized its Safety And Security Committee to help deal with these issues.
“The workshops were the initiative of the committee, which is chaired by Philip Brathwaite, and they covered a variety of topics – including mental awareness, routine daily duties, special types of security, emergency situations and legal aspects of security – and included topics such as security awareness, patrolling, crime and theft prevention, crisis intervention, apprehension and detention, ethics, professionalism, communications, and basic first aid,” the president explained.
