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Haitian police to train at the Royal Bahamas Police College in January.

A small group of police officers from the Republic of Haiti are expected to begin training at the Royal Bahamas Police College in January. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Cynthia Pratt and the Commissioner of Police, Paul Farquharson, said on a recent trip to Haiti they met with the Haitian president, Rene Preval, and the Commissioner of Police in Haiti to set up an exchange programme for police officers in an attempt to assist the Haitian government with strengthening its security forces.

"On Tuesday past the Commissioner of Police and myself along with other officers visited Haiti. We had an opportunity to meet with the President, the Prime Minister and several other ministers. The reason for us traveling to Haiti was for us to establish a relationship with the Haitian government... but most of all to discuss the topic of security. We recognize that we have been experiencing some problems with criminal elements emanating out of other countries, so because of that we felt the relationship and intelligence-sharing were vital," said Minister Pratt. "It was agreed that the police officers will come to The Bahamas for training come January of next year. We will begin with 4 police officers who will be enrolled at the Police College."

According to Mr Farquharson in a period of roughly 12 months there has been an escalation of drugs and firearms coming into the country from Haiti. He explained that if the Royal Bahamas Police Force "shared its experience and what it has as far as training" with the Haitian police force there would be a significant decrease in drugs and firearms entering The Bahamas from Haiti.

In addition, he noted that it is important for the Bahamian police force to forge ties with its Haitian counterparts as a means of creating a stepping stone for Haitian law enforcement officials to use as building blocks that would help to create stability in their country.

Mr Farquharson also highlighted that there area roughly 4000 police officers in Haiti who are faced with the responsibility of maintaining order in a nation of 8 million people.

The Deputy Prime Minister explained that one of the main constraints she observed during her visit to Haiti is that the country has a lot of social problems. She emphasized that the visiting officers will be introduced to this country's community policing program, because she belives that if the program is applied in Haiti, community policing could play an instrumental role in the development of the country.

"We believe that if there is a safe Haiti there would be a safe Bahamas. We believe that if we are able to assist them in training they would be better able to police their country, whereby giving us an opportunity to curtail some of the problems we are faced with from Haitian-Bahamians who have come out of that country," said Mrs Pratt. "The police are really concerned about the criminal element emanating out of Haiti coming to The Bahamas. We have agreed that this would be the way forward. We have decided to reach out to assist Haiti with the training of their police officers. And the Haitian government is very excited about this idea."

Mr Farquharson and the Haitian Commissioner of Police will be attending the chiefs of police meeting in Barbados on the 5 December. At the conclusion of that meeting the Haitian Commissioner of Police is expected to pay a visit to The Bahamas.