MONTEGO BAY, St James — More than half of the cops in the police Area One have successfully completed a Sandals Corporate University (SCU) course in leadership and efforts are under way to expand the programme to other Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) members.

A collaboration between SCU and the JCF, the Leadership Training Initiative (LTI) sensitises cops about their roles as well as reinforces how they contribute to the success of the tourism industry and the wider Jamaican economy.

Executive chairman of Sandals Resorts Adam Stewart, who described the initiative as a game changer, handed out the certificates on Thursday and pledged SCU’s continued support of the police force.

“But bigger than what is happening here at this moment, there are many more of your colleagues out there that we’re going to complete this training [with] all the way through. And this should serve as a beta test of how public-private partnership (PPP) works together for the greater good of the most beautiful island in the world. And if we believe that in our hearts, I promise you, we can achieve it,” Stewart said.

“I want to encourage us to step closer together as a public and private sector. This is a PPP. We just happen to be paying the bill on this one for Sandals. And that’s okay, because it can be a beta test. I asked the commissioner, ‘How many people are in the police force in Jamaica?’ He said, ‘In uniform, 14,000’. Sandals has 20,000 in uniform. So if we can train Sandals, we can help train you too,” the hotelier added.

SCU Senior Corporate Director Dr Luz Longsworth explained that the initial plan was for the first phase to train half of the leadership team’s 400 members from Area One which includes the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.

“Over this period our target was surpassed, and 210 JCF officers at the leadership level completed this training,” Longsworth added.

Between November 11, 2024 and January 9 this year they had 10 days of classes.

Area One commander Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenford Miller explained that the concept came out of a meeting the Area One management team had with business partners.

“We realised that we need to skew that programme to actually fit our police officers where we can actually address some of the issues and concerns that we had in Area One. So I asked at that table, ‘Why not put a programme together where my police officers and myself would be trained to understand the dynamics of Area One?’ and a lot of conversation took place. So the programme came,” he said.

“I said, ‘Okay, we need it not to be the regular programme. We need that programme with the tourism, the policing and all the other aspects… in it’. So it is and will be unique to policing. And I said, if this programme gets off right, maybe we can extend it through the entire country,” Miller added.

Miller noted that the programme was timely as it aligns with ongoing efforts to improve the quality of JCF members and the technology being used in crime fighting.

Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake agreed that the SCU training programme “is a significant step forward in equipping the JCF with the skills necessary to navigate the complexities that are associated with the security of the tourism industry”.

“It can be complex because the people, our people, are part of the product yet it is sometimes the people that represent the greatest threat to the product. And so it is not enough to simply enforce law. We must also understand the broader social, economic and cultural dynamics which represent the tourism ecosystem,” the commissioner said.

Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, who also expressed his appreciation for the training programme, predicted that annual visitor arrivals could hit 10 million if the JCF effectively curbs crime. There were 4.3 million visitors last year.

Stewart said his team will do all they can to get the numbers up.

“We will fix and achieve all of the things that need fixing to make sure that we hit that 10 million mark in my lifetime,” Stewart said.

“Jamaica must see 10 million visitors coming to this country [and] US$15 billion worth of economic earnings so that each one of us in Jamaica can achieve our own goals and dreams,” Stewart added.