KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) launched the second staging of its Polygraph Examiners course on Monday, January 22, at the National Police College in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

The 10-week course will run from January 22 to March 29 with twelve new polygraph examiners from both local and regional law enforcement agencies being trained at the facility, a statement said on Wednesday.

Keynote speaker at the event, Emina Tudakovic, High Commissioner of Canada, noted in her remarks that “Canada has been actively engaged in various capacity building initiatives in strengthening the skills and resilience of the Jamaica national security forces.”

“These initiatives are not merely about imparting knowledge, they symbolise the shared responsibility we bear in creating a safer and more secure world for all,” she added.

According to the Director General of MOCA, Colonel Desmond Edwards, “Integrity assurance is a critical component of MOCA’s operational ethos and over the years the agency has sought to increase its complement of polygraph examiners to meet the ever-growing demand for these services”.

Edwards added that “the MOCA vetting and polygraph team has been very busy in recent years, and current trends indicate that there will be further demands on our vetting and polygraph services”.

The training, he noted, is critical and timely, not just in building MOCA’s capacity, but also those of other local and regional agencies.

Course participants hail from several government entities, including the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), several other Government ministries and agencies, as well as law enforcement entities in the Eastern Caribbean.

Students are expected to complete 400 hours of work across 10 weeks of immersive training, which will be delivered by instructors from the Canadian Police College (CPC).

MOCA’s Polygraph and Vetting Unit has been a functional part of the Agency since its establishment in 2014 and has conducted over 11,000 screenings. Currently, the unit conducts vetting services for potential recruits for the JCF, PICA, and JCA as well as several ministries and government agencies.

This service has also been extended to regional law enforcement partners including the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Royal Montserrat Police Service as well as Grenada’s, St Kitts & Nevis’ and the Turks & Caicos’ police forces. With the creation of the Polygraph Course, MOCA intends to one day become the regional hub for Polygraph training.