The Regional Security System is pressing Caribbean law enforcement agencies to pursue criminal networks’ finances and strengthen cross-border intelligence sharing, saying drug trafficking, firearms and gangs can no longer be treated as separate threats.
RSS director of policing and risk management, Major Kerry Waterman, made the call on Friday as he addressed 17 graduates of the RSS Drug/Gang and Transnational Organised Crime Investigations course at the RSS Training Institute in Paragon, Christ Church.
“The RSS from the 1980s versus the RSS now in 2026 is a different beast. We’ve got so many different challenges,” Major Waterman said.
He warned that the region’s security concerns had expanded beyond traditional threats such as hurricanes to include drug trafficking and the movement of firearms and gangs into Caribbean communities.
“We’re not worried about only hurricanes anymore, we’re worried about the drugs coming up from the south and trying to stop these guys from getting into our communities and taking our kids.”
Major Waterman said criminal organisations were increasingly interconnected, requiring law enforcement agencies to adopt a similar approach.
“Drugs, firearms, and gangs do not exist as separate problems. They are interconnected.
“The same criminal networks involved in drug trafficking are often linked to firearms, violence, money laundering, corruption, and other forms of organised crime. Our response, therefore, needs to be equally as connected.”
The investigators were trained in intelligence, interviewing, interdiction, surveillance, digital forensics, handling exhibits, financial investigations, confiscation of criminal proceeds, gang structures, international cooperation and officer safety.
Major Waterman urged them to put those skills into practice when they returned to their respective organisations.
He also encouraged investigators to remain focused on evidence rather than outside influences:
“I want you to follow the evidence. Don’t allow assumptions, personalities, or pressure to dictate the direction of an investigation.”
But Major Waterman said investigators must go beyond making arrests and target the financial infrastructure supporting organised crime.
“Follow the money. Arresting an individual is very important, yes, but disrupting the finances, assets, and infrastructure that sustain these organised criminals can have a far greater long-lasting effect.”
He also stressed that regional cooperation was critical because criminals do not operate within national boundaries. “We need to work across the borders. We cannot work alone.”
The RSS officials urged the officers to share intelligence and maintain the professional relationships developed during the course, particularly as regional law enforcement agencies face increasingly complex and resource-intensive investigations.
(SB)
The post RSS seeks integrated response to organised crime appeared first on Barbados Today.
