Thirty-one Saint Lucian police officers have received advanced training from two Taiwanese Instructors in advanced crime-fighting techniques.
The officers underwent the training as the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) continues to bolster its crime-fighting capabilities amid an alarming crime surge.
According to a Taiwan Embassy release, sixteen local officers participated in the Advanced Intelligence Course, while fifteen participated in the Advanced Crime Scene Course.
“Taiwan continues to support the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force in capacity building and providing equipment that will enhance the profession and bolster police presence,” Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Peter Chia-Yen Chen, told the November 29, 2024, closing ceremony.
The Embassy release said Chen explained that during Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre’s visit to Taiwan in 2022, the PM initiated the on-site training.
He explained that with Pierre’s initiative, the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the RSLPF, and Taiwan’s National Police Agency conducted on-site training to empower local police officers with modern techniques and ideas in crime investigation and intelligence management.
In addition, the Taiwanese diplomat handed over an electric-powered bike, three body cameras, and three water filter bottles to the RSLPF, declaring that the donation demonstrated his country’s commitment to assisting local law enforcement, highlighting the ‘enduring partnership’ between Taiwan and Saint Lucia.
Minister for Crime Prevention Jeremiah Norbert, who also addressed the closing ceremony, was confident that the partnership with Taiwan would assist in navigating to a safer and happier livelihood in Saint Lucia.
“I am confident that the partnership we share will navigate us to a safer and happier livelihood in Saint Lucia,” Norbert stated.
For his part, Assistant Commissioner of Police Luke Defreitas praised the course participants for enduring weeks of training that demanded a deep understanding of advanced methodologies, critical thinking, adapting to new challenges, and collaborating effectively.
“These are the hallmarks of exceptional law enforcement professionals,” ACP Defreitas declared.
He urged the police officers to use the cutting-edge skills they learned in
intelligence gathering, analysis, and crime scene investigations to restore trust, deliver justice, respect human rights, and uphold the values that bind society together.
PHOTO: (L to R)Peter Chia-Yen Chen, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Mr. Luke Defreitas, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ms. Diana Fanis, Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police, and training facilitators from Taiwan, Mr. Logan Kuo and Mr. Eric Huang.
Invest in more electric bikes for cops and body cameras for accountability!,,,, Thanks to Taiwan especially after Slaspa !!! SMH
Here is my concern but first let me welcome Taiwan’s contribution of friendship and crime mitigation initiatives in Saint Lucia. But here is my cause for concern. For decades the RSLPF has been fighting and combating crime. Are you telling me that all these decades of experiences, not one constable or commissioner of police or even a new police recruit sat down and came up with some novel way of crime fighting, or intelligence technique or a way forward for the force? No one sat down and decided or attempted to move the force forward by being a pioneer, a visionary, a trail blazer even and come up with a manual for improving the policing in Saint Lucia? Why do we always have to depend on others to do things for us? That dependency is evident of a sit back and do nothing attitude. Now get me clear dear reader…I am in no way un-appretiative of Taiwan’s contribution. I am simply amazed at the lack of forward movement from the authorities who don’t think outside the box and just leave things as they stand. It’s lazy and lackadaisical. If one looks at the history of say, the FBI, It had to take a person – J Edgar Hoover in this case – to come up with an idea to better the government’s approach to organised crime. Thus the FBI was created and with time has become a premier crime busting organisation globally. I can write a manual for crime and intelligence investigations if I give it some careful thought, even without me having any formal training in policing. We must learn to do things for ourselves. Yes we need allies but we must show we can do things for ourselves. Dependency can have its drawbacks. But given that the men and women of the RSLPF have completed their training, I trust their newly found knowledge goes a long way in making society safer and better. But let’s not just stop here, go further and develop strategies that are unique to Saint Lucia. In that breath, thank you Taiwan.
@C-WIZ, like ive been saying all this time, we have an incompetent, impotent, lazy police force.
CWIZ, based on what you said, the force developed this lazy attitude because of politics. this attitude started since in the 1960s. Imagine when a politician did not like a policeman, no matter how industrious this policeman would be, he would be transferred to Canaries which was known as Siberia. over the years this trend has been carried out and the politicians still played a major role in the management of the police. Only this Prime Minister I have realized who is staying away from this type of politics. Now some officers with potential might never get a chance to do this training because they are not friends of the hierarchy. Remember arrest all those in red shirts, a typical example of what I am saying.