By ANGELO ARMBRISTER

Freeport News Reporter

angelo@nasguard.com

Officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Customs Department, Airport Crash and Rescue and the Port Department wrapped up an intensive three-week course on Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) Weapons yesterday with a brief ceremony at police headquarters.

The course was a collaborative effort between the U.S. State Department and The Bahamas government to prepare first responders to effectively handle state emergencies such as terrorist attacks.

Twenty-three participants – two representatives from the Customs Department, one from the Port Department, two from Airport Crash and Rescue and the remainder from the Royal Bahamas Police Force – were engaged in the CBRN course, which included both theory and practical exercises.

Instructor Patrick Richards, who works for the Diplomatic Security Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program for the U.S. State Department, said the participants were taught to respond, mitigate and rescue in an emergency situation from an attack of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear terrorism.

"This was probably one of the most professional groups I have ever seen," Richards said. "They worked very hard. This is a very difficult course that requires protective suiting that allows no air in. You can imagine the heat that's generated in this thing. We had to have a nurse on the scene just to make sure that everybody maintained the right body functions."

Richards boasted of the professionalism, skills and endurance of the officers.

"They are required to continually rescue people; this is a mass casualty-type event. I couldn't imagine asking any better out of these guys. Every one of them gave their heart and soul to this thing," he said.

Richards said they have carried out the training worldwide and while the course has been around for a number of years, the three-week-long course is the first with new and updated equipment and training materials.

"It's a pilot course and Freeport, Bahamas, got the very first one," he said.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames noted that this particular course is an extremely important one for the Force, and expressed his hope that it will not be the last of its kind.

"We will continue to work to see that we get courses here on the island and expose as many people as possible. We want to be proactive," he said. "Let's say in the event that something does happen, it will give us a real boost to go into it, and deal with it correctly the way it ought to be dealt with."

Dames added that the officers came out of the program extremely motivated and look forward to putting that training to use.

"From time to time, we will be calling on those officers who benefited from this experience, to avail themselves," he said.

At the completion of yesterday's ceremony, a donation of tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, which was used during the training, was made by the State Department to the Police Force.

The island commander thanked the visitors for their assistance with the entire initiative and invited them to once again partner with Bahamian authorities on other projects.