By Jacqueline Carpenter RCIPS

Ten RCIPS Officers Graduate from UWI Open Campus with New Expertise in Community Policing

On Sunday, 24 January, ten RCIPS officers from the Neighborhood Policing Department graduated from the University of the West Indies with Certificates in Community Policing, having completed the first part of the intensive course offered through the local branch of the regional University. The officers immersed themselves in the fundamentals, techniques and principles of community policing for eleven weeks, while balancing their full-time policing duties and personal lives.

For Acting Police Sergeant Cornelius Pompey, who addressed the audience at Sunday’s graduation ceremony, the course was well worth the effort. “As an individual you can make a difference but collectively as a team we can make a change,” he said, “and the UWI Open Campus has given us the tool to make that change. The experience and knowledge we’ve gained will be immediately put to use as we go about our daily duties as RCIPS Neighborhood Police Officers.”

Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis, who was in attendance at the ceremony, stated that he was “delighted that through the collaboration of the UWI Open Campus and UCCI that several of our dedicated Neighbourhood Police Officers participated in this training opportunity and successfully completed the certificate programme.

We see from current affairs elsewhere that the Law Enforcement community and public officials are now revisiting this tested-and-tried policing philosophy to reduce tensions between community and police, while reducing crime through close collaboration with community partners and stakeholders. This creates safer neighbourhoods and builds trust and confidence.”

Community policing was first introduced in the Cayman Islands in the 1990s. Since that time, the community has come to expect this type of policing as part of the range of policing services delivered by the RCIPS. It augments the best of traditional policing with contemporary policing, with the objective of bridging the gaps and divisions in in today’s diverse and society, and sowing trust between communities and law enforcement.

IMAGES (supplied):

Photo 1 – Acting Police Sergeant Cornelius Pompey addresses graduates during the UWI ceremony

Photo 2 – Group Photo

STANDING: PC Odale Mulgrave, PC Lazarus Moraes, PC Tamara Jackson, PC Clifford Garcia APS Cornelius Pompey

SITTING: Paulette Chotan (UWI), PS Roje Williams, DCP Anthony Ennis, Dr. Francis Severin (UWI), Jody-Ann Moore Edris Ocho (UWI), PC Halston Farley