THE SEAFARING skills of 22 officers of the police maritime units and coast guards of the Regional Security System member countries have been enhanced following a two-week training programme by the Royal Navy recently.
Participants who completed the maritime tactical planning and the navigation courses received their certificates at a passing out ceremony at the HMBS Pelican, Coast Guard headquarters yesterday.
Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force Colonel Alvin Quintyne said the training enhanced the competencies of the officers who are involved in securing the seas of their homeland and the region.
“There can be no doubt that these mobile training team engagements are of significant value to the maritime law enforcement personnel in this Caribbean region as they strive to contribute to the security of their respective homelands,” Quintyne said.
British High Commissioner to Barbados Victoria Dean told the graduating class that they were on the front line to stop illicit and dangerous drugs reaching
Caribbean shores.
Quintyne said that given scarce financial resources there was a need to exact maximum benefit from such training engagements by exposing as many personnel as practically feasible.
He praised the mobile training team concept which saw many more personnel exposed to training for a fraction of the cost when compared to being done in Britain or outside the region.
Quintyne also offered the HMBS Pelican as a central hub for the delivery of future training programmes by the mobile training teams.
He expressed gratitude for the invaluable opportunity offered for one coast guard officer to have on the job training on board the HMS Severen as well as an engineer to have a two-week training engagement. (LK)
