MoU Signed for Police Firearms and Tactical Training Unit

A Firearms and Tactical Training Unit is to be built at the police training facility at Twickenham Park in St. Catherine.
Minister of National Security, Senator Colonel Trevor MacMillan, and British High Commissioner, Jeremy Cresswell, on Wednesday (Dec. 17), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project.
The British Government has provided approximately $51 million for the establishment of the unit, which will be built close to the firing range and the tactical training village. It is expected to be completed by May next year.
Senator MacMillan, in his remarks at the signing held at the Ministry’s headquarters in Kingston, noted that the existing facility for teaching the course on firearms was unsuitable. “It’s taught in a normal classroom away from the range, and therefore, it’s most inappropriate. This unit that is going to be established will ensure we have quality and comprehensive training in firearms,” he said.
The new facility will be equipped with a firearms training simulator and annual certification of police personnel will be conducted, to ensure that their competence is continually reviewed.
The Security Minister thanked the British Government for its continued support to the police force, particularly in respect to the training school, “where, as we know, it needs some major refurbishing, and we are in the process of doing that.”
The British High Commissioner, in his response, said that the co-operation between the British and Jamaica Governments, on matters relating to security “is longstanding and remains of great importance in the United Kingdom.”
“The training facility at Twickenham Park is clearly a very important part of the formation of officers within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and I think that at a time when we see the implementation of the strategic review recommendations for the JCF starting to come to fruition, that it is even more important that we see that the facilities… are up to the standards that they should be,” the High Commissioner said.
He pointed out that the Firearms and Tactical Training Unit will allow JCF personnel to undertake quality and comprehensive training in firearms, human rights, and use of force policy.
High Commissioner Cresswell expressed the hope that “through this unit, the police will be more expert, and perhaps more disciplined in the use of firearms and this overall, will lead to an increase in the confidence, which develops between the police and the community.”