Caribbean News Now!: Regional crime and security strategy top ...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Senior security officials from across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) met via video conference last Thursday as the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) convened the first meeting of the steering committee to oversee the development of the regional crime and security strategy (RCSS).

In his opening remarks, Francis Forbes, interim executive director of IMPACS, put the meeting in the context of the decision taken at the 5th meeting of the Council of Ministers with Responsibility for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE), in which it was agreed that the development and delivery of the regional crime and security strategy should be undertaken by CARICOM IMPACS.

Forbes went on to explain that recent global developments had increased the urgency for this action which he described as critical to the cohesiveness and overall effectiveness of the collective security effort.

The interim executive director?s statement was supported by the chair of the Regional Intelligence Committee Lt Col. Edward Croft. The Regional Crime and Security Coordinator at IMPACS, Callixtus Joseph, made a presentation outlining the main issues that the RCSS team will elaborate upon in future deliberations.

Joseph emphasized the RCSS?s importance at the strategic policy level, explaining that the community as a collective would become more effective at setting its own security agenda both at the national and regional levels while maintaining more effective relationships with third states.

?The establishment of the strategy will bring greater focus, integration and synergy to CARICOM?s approach to regional security,? Joseph said.

The RCSS steering committee is comprised of chairs of standing committees; commissioners of police, chiefs of military, chief immigration officers, comptrollers of customs and heads of intelligence and financial intelligence units, and the director of the Regional Security System (RSS), together with key representatives of IMPACS.

It was also recommended that to ensure a comprehensive plan is developed that there will be an engagement of civil society and academia.

Source: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Regional-crime-and-security-strategy-top-priority-for-IMPACS-6626.html

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