From 18 to 21 July 2023, officials from the Firearm Licensing Authority, the Department of Correctional Services, the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Jamaica Defence Force, the Ministry of National Security, and the Jamaica Customs Agency participated in the virtual Physical Security and Stockpile Management (PSSM) Training Workshop. This workshop sought to strengthen State capacities to reinforce national mechanisms to reduce and prevent the diversion of conventional weapons and ammunition and improve law enforcement capacity to secure stockpile facilities.
As a result of this workshop, 23 national officers are now more knowledgeable on international standards and best practices in physical security and stockpile management, marking and recordkeeping. The presentations addressed the relevance of national mechanisms and measures to reduce and prevent the diversion of firearms and ammunition from national stockpiles.
The PSSM Training Workshop forms part of the technical assistance provided by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) in the framework of the “Preventing Diversion of Conventional Arms and Ammunition in the Caribbean” project, funded by the United States of America.
This course also contributes to Goal 4 of the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap which sets out to “Systematically decrease the risk of diversion of firearms and ammunition from government- and non-government-owned arsenals”, and supports regional efforts to prevent illicit trafficking in firearms and ammunition and armed violence in the Caribbean.