RHON­DOR DOWLAT-ROS­TANT

Of­fi­cers from the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit (AKU) of the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) have re­ceived spe­cial­ist train­ing on kid­nap­ping re­sponse, from the Unit­ed States Fed­er­al Bu­reau of In­ves­ti­ga­tion (FBI).

The train­ing was con­duct­ed on Ju­ly 15th through the U.S. Em­bassy Port-of-Spain. It fa­cil­i­tat­ed train­ing for 14 of­fi­cers as­signed to the AKU.

The vir­tu­al train­ing was taught by sub­ject mat­ter ex­perts from the FBI’s Crim­i­nal In­ves­tiga­tive Di­vi­sion and Cri­sis Ne­go­ti­a­tions Unit. 

The ex­perts shared the lat­est tech­niques and best prac­tices on in­ves­tiga­tive process­es and ne­go­ti­a­tions when han­dling kid­nap­ping cas­es. 

A re­lease is­sued by the US Em­bassy in Port-of-Spain stat­ed that the FBI, "hopes to pro­vide more in-depth in-per­son train­ing once COVID-19 health pro­to­cols are lift­ed."

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Gary Grif­fith thanked the U.S. Em­bassy for its con­tin­ued part­ner­ship with the TTPS. 

“I am pleased to have of­fi­cers un­der my com­mand at­tend a vir­tu­al kid­nap­ping train­ing ses­sion with the FBI.  This train­ing fo­cused on best prac­tices and would en­able the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit and the an­a­lyt­i­cal de­part­ment to uti­lize mod­ern tech­niques in kid­nap­ping in­ves­ti­ga­tions,” Grif­fith said.

He added: “As Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, I will con­tin­ue to seek out train­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for of­fi­cers of the TTPS by part­ner­ing with es­tab­lished or­ga­ni­za­tions such as the FBI.”