Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
National Security Minister Peter Phillips (left) and Richard Smyth, the US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, test their shooting skills during a brief exercise with the FATS system at the Police Academy, yesterday. The equipment was donated by the US Government to improve the shooting skills of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.THE ACCURACY, judgement and shooting skill of the nation's policemen should now be sharpened with training using two Firearms Training Systems (FATS) equipment from the United States Government.
"These machines are designed specifically to improve your judgement," Deputy Superintendent Mervin McNab told The Gleaner. Supt. McNab said the equipment, handed over to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) yesterday, would not replace the outdoor shooting range.
FATS has produced about 1,200 "scenarios" featuring actors engaged in robberies, kidnappings, drug deals, many other crimes and suspicious activities. The trainees watch the scenes unfold on a screen in front of them and then try to re-enact them.
Under the programme, instructors will be able to film local street scenes to make the scenarios as realistic as possible.
Police officers are being trained to use a "continuum of force", from verbal commands to non-lethal methods and, only as a last resort, deadly force in dangerous situations.
The equipment is fully computerised and can be used with one's personal side arms, or firearms that are directly attached to the system. No ammunition is required. Everything is based on the mechanism of the computer system.
The machines were officially handed over to National Security Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, by Richard Smyth, Deputy Chief of the US Embassy in Kingston.
The US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission said the handing over of the equipment was as a result of the concerns expressed by the Jamaican Government, the Opposition, JCF leadership, and civil society groups about the high rates of shootings of and by police officers.
"The men and women of the JCF deserve the highest possible level of training and the people of Jamaica deserve a highly trained police force. This FATS system is not a system for teaching marksmanship it is a system for developing the judgement of individual officers who may be faced, on the streets, with split seconds to make critical, agonising decisions on the application or withholding of deadly force," explained Mr. Smyth.
He pointed out that one of the machines is a fixed simulator, to be use at the Jamaica Constabulary Staff College. The other is a mobile unit, which can be used to train officers around the island.
"The purchase of these simulators is funded by the US Embassy's Narcotics Affairs section, at a cost of US$101, 800. Funding has also been provided for two Jamaicans, currently in the United States, for advanced instructor training," said the US Embassy Deputy Chief Mission.
Senior Superintendent Delbert Heath said the course began on June 6 and the participants included two Deputy Superintendents, five Inspectors, two Sergeants and two Corporals.
