The director of policing and risk management with the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS), Lieutenant Colonel Kerry Waterman, has called on regional law enforcement officers to cooperate more in a bid to dismantle criminal enterprises.
Waterman, addressing the closing ceremony of a three-week RSS Training Institute Drug and Gang Investigations Course, said across the Caribbean, 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,” he told the 17 officers from various law enforcement agencies across the region, who successfully completed the course.
“These guys are destroying us because they are working together. We need to work together as well. This is why the value of this course goes beyond learning individual investigative techniques.
“You’ve been exposed to areas such as intelligence, interviewing, interdiction, surveillance, digital forensics, handling exhibits, financial investigations, confiscation, criminal proceeds, gang structures and international cooperation. The real test now is how you’re going to apply these skills when you go back to your respective organisations.”
Waterman said that criminals do not respect boundaries and moved through jurisdictions effortlessly, while law enforcement agencies often got hung up on jurisdiction and refusing to share vital information.
He urged the participants to join forces and resources where possible, adding “we need to work across the borders.
“We cannot work alone; we cannot work in silos. These criminals that we investigate do not respect boundaries – they don’t. And our professional relationships cannot stop at those boundaries as a result of this. We need to share intelligence. We need to preserve our relationships with our colleagues, especially the ones that you’ve met on this course.
“It makes life a lot easier when you know who you’re talking to on the other end. And you need to use these new regional and international networks that we now have available to you,” he said.
Waterman also encouraged the graduates to pay close attention to their investigations, advising them to not allow personalities or pressure to dictate the direction of an investigation, and to follow the money.
He said they should always be professional and to remain focused so as not to be outmaneuvered.
“There will be times when these cases progress really slowly; that’s a fact of life.
There will be some times when we don’t have the full intelligence picture… A strong investigation isn’t just one where you get the arrest; that’s not always the most important thing.
“We need to make sure that what we do is lawful, is intelligence-led, evidence-led, properly documented and capable of the standard scrutiny, and ultimately results in a successful prosecution,” he RSS director added. (CMC)
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