Attorney General: All Police ranks to receive training

All officers in the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) are to undergo frequent retraining exercises annually to ensure that their skill sets are enhanced to deal with policing in a challenging environment.

Attorney General Dale Marshall made this disclosure today as he addressed the opening ceremony of the two-week Police Executive Leadership Seminar, at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

Held in conjunction with Durham Constabulary in the United Kingdom, the course will target some senior RBPF officers in the first phase.

Reiterating Government’s commitment to giving the RBPF all the resources to assist them in their duties, Mr. Marshall told attendees that the course was the first of many opportunities to be offered to members of the Force.

The Attorney General said he recognised the officers valued the opportunity to enhance their personal development and gain new skills to lead in a challenging environment.

However, he cautioned that there would be many expectations, and stressed that the overall commitment must be to provide a stable public safety environment for the communities they serve.

“We appreciate that one training programme will not take you where you need to be and that’s why there is going to be continuous training in the Royal Barbados Police Force….The Prime Minister has agreed to give us the resources necessary to make sure that on an annual basis, the leadership cohort of the Force is trained and retrained and retrained and then all of the junior ranks have the opportunity for training and retraining,” he stated.

Mr. Marshall also expressed his desire to see the Regional Police Training Centre returned to its ‘glory days’, when it was not just the pinnacle of training for policing in Barbados but across the region.

He assured the trainers and the participants that the Cabinet held the officers in the RBPF in high esteem and added: “Let me say on behalf of the Prime Minister, myself and all of Cabinet, that we speak of the Royal Barbados Police Force with great pride and satisfaction. Your officers risk your lives every single day protecting our public and for that, I want to thank you.”

In brief remarks, Deputy Commissioner Oral Williams said phase one of the programme would prepare the senior police officers for leadership roles and positions within the Force as part of its succession planning.

Fifteen officers at the ranks of Assistant Commissioner, Commandant, Senior Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Inspector from Barbados, and one Inspector from St. Lucia attached to the Regional Security System, are participating in the first cohort of the joint training initiative between the RBPF and Durham Constabulary.

In phase two, some of the attendees will go on attachment at Durham Constabulary in September. (BGIS) is