KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Twenty-five operational personnel of private security companies (PSC) in charge of storage, custody and transportation of firearms and ammunitions are benefiting from a two-day technical workshop on international standards and best practices on stockpile management.

The objectives are to reduce stockpile security risks to the minimum acceptable level with respect to natural disaster and other incidents; contribute to the standardisation of physical security standards to minimise the possibility of theft and losses of PSC weapons and ammunition, thus preventing their diversion into illegality.

It also aims to promote the development of standard operating procedures for the effective management and control of PSC weapons and ammunition storage based on international standards and best practices.

In an interview with JIS News, Acting Operations Manager, Private Security Regulation Authority (PSRA), Vivette Webber-McLaughlin, said the workshop is being undertaken to ensure that operational personnel in the sector are adhering to international principles.

“We want to make sure that our private security industry understands the international standards that are used for stockpiling small arms, and this is a way for them to be aware and to adopt some of those principles,” she said.

She pointed out that regulations within the sector are crucial, particularly in ensuring that small arms are not being diverted to the criminal network.

“We have to have regulations because, if not, the arms could go into the hands of undesirables, criminal networks, and so it is for them (security industry) to understand how important it is and use the internationally accepted standards to prevent small arms being diverted to the criminal network,” she added.

The participants are drawn from regulators and companies within the sector.

The May 15 to 16 workshop, being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, is organised by the Government in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC).

The training is being delivered by Regulation Trainer, Richard Kurina.

The United Nations has developed a series of international standards in order to provide clear and comprehensive guidance to both practitioners and policymakers on key aspects of firearms and ammunition control.

The PSRA is a statutory body under the Ministry of National Security, charged with monitoring and regulating the operations of all stakeholders in the private security industry. These include contract security organisations, proprietary security organisations, private security guards, private investigators and security trainers.