Ministry of National Security

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Immigration Officers presents an item of song at their graduation ceremony, held at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston on May 9. The officers will be assigned to the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency.

Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Arthur Williams has emphasised that immigration officers are of utmost importance to the country's security.

Addressing a batch of 17 immigration officers at a graduation ceremony on Friday (May 9), at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston, Senator Williams also stressed the importance of immigration officers to the threat of terrorism in Jamaica and the world on a larger scale.

"In today's world, the threat of terrorist action is real.human trafficking is commonplace.world illegal aliens are a constant phenomenon. Included in your training were courses designed to allow you to recognize and deal with these threats," he explained.

The State Minister pointed out that the machine-readable passports have helped to screen some of those people involved in terrorist activities, human trafficking and illegal entry.

"We in Jamaica, in keeping with modern practices, were the first Caribbean territory to introduce machine-readable passports. But Jamaica will soon have to make some other decisions in respect of the increasingly technology-driven field of passport production," he said. Additionally, he said the Ministry would decide in the future whether or not to include biometric information in passports, which would assist the immigration officers tremendously.

Mr. Williams said that the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), has sought to carefully select, train and monitor the performance of immigration officers, and that the newly updated Performance Management Appraisal System (PMAS) would continuously check staff performance and make changes whenever necessary.

The State Minister emphasised that immigration officers should always be on their guard in seeking to detect new and innovative ways designed by the criminal mind to defeat the measures put in place to combat terrorism, illegal entry or human trafficking.

Senator Williams pointed out that PICA has been working to reduce the time it takes to process passengers arriving or departing the island. "The agency will be ensuring that improved business operations, supported by the available information technology systems, in conjunction with the human element (the immigration officers), will facilitate a smooth and quick processing and thereby reduce the average time for dealing with a passenger to no more than one minute," he said.

He reminded the graduates that they are the first persons a visitor would encounter at the port of entry, and as such, their demeanor, treatment and their manner of processing that visitor would go a long way in ensuring Jamaica's reputation as a tourist destination and as a place to do business.

"You have been well trained and you are well equipped for the task ahead. The real test of your success as immigration officers however, will depend on how you respond to the challenges of the job, as well as the personal initiatives that you bring, to help the agency to become more productive and customer friendly and responsive to the security needs of our country," he told them.

The PICA is an agency of the Ministry of National Security. It was established in 2001 through the combination of the Passport Office and the Immigration Service, which were part of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF); and the Citizenship Section of the Ministry of National Security's Immigration & Passport Policy Unit.

The amalgamation of the areas was a timely approach, given the increased worldwide focus on border security.

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