Former Head of the National Security Council, Commander Garvin Heerah weighs in on the training programme underway with D.E.A. and local law enforcement officers.
He believes it will very beneficial for local law enforcement....
00:00The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA International Training Team, and the U.S. Embassy's DEA Port of Spain County Office
00:09are now actively engaged in a program with members of the TTPS, Coast Guard, and Prison Service to name a few.
00:17Commander Hira says he himself was personally trained with DEA officials in Quantico, and it was a very enlightening experience.
00:27According to him, the certification and standardization of the entire process, as well as having all agencies operating on the same page,
00:36will have a positive impact on law enforcement here.
00:39I am encouraging that. I'm optimistic that it is an opportunity here for officers to be able to have more ability and capabilities.
00:49It's capacity building. When you look at it, it's capacity building.
00:53And even with the customs officers on the port, we know that that could be an overwhelming situation.
00:58We know at times that that could be a situation where, as somebody else said in another place, where the tail wags the dog.
01:05But I see it as an opportunity. You know what? We are getting people trained.
01:09We're getting people participating in best practices. We are looking at international best practices.
01:15He notes, however, that at the end of the program, there should be continuity and further networking among the parties to deal with crime.
01:23So the business continuity of the training, the business continuity of what you're learning on this program must now be applied in your specific domains.
01:32And I think it's an opportunity that should be multiplied because it's very important to have standardization,
01:38everybody speaking from the same language and what is called the adoption of international best practice,
01:43because as you would have seen, one of the key aspects of this training is to deal with transnational organized crime,
01:49which is counter trafficking, money laundering, all of those things.
01:53With regard to the recent audit report into the Strategic Services Agency or SSA and the concerns raised about possible coup plans and unaccounted for ammunition,
02:04Hira says this is why accountability is key.
02:08The lights have been turned on in the room is an indicator of how important it is to have oversight.
02:13You must have autonomy as an intelligence agency. That's expected.
02:18You will have to have autonomy, but that autonomy does not give you free reign.
02:23There has to be a certain oversight and authority as to that autonomy in your acquisitions, in your procurement and, of course, in your operations.
02:32So it has now provided an opportunity for Trinidad to look deep, a deep dive, look into the thing and to recognize how important now to have continued oversight on some of these intelligence agencies.
02:44However, the commander does not hold the view that the report should be made accessible to the public as the integrity of the agency still has to be protected.
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