The Anguilla Customs Department has retained the services of a well- known Security Systems Consultant in Miami, Florida, who has trained security teams all over the world, to conduct a separate Level 1 and Level 2 course for various participants – on the island – covering a period of two weeks.
The Observational Techniques & Behavioural Analysis Course Facilitator, Mr. Prospero Ellis, called “a Human Lie Detector” by the Miami Herald, is the President and CEO of Rovertech International Inc., a private company of Security and Detection Consultants. Mr. Elllis is a retired Chief Narcotics and Chief Security Customs official who founded the company.
The Level 1 course, for Customs and Immigration Officers and employees at the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority, commenced at the St. Gerard’s Conference Centre on Monday, July 16. Anguilla’s Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Travis Carty, told the gathering: “This training is in line with the Anguilla Customs Department’s strategic objective to have an inter-connected approach in protecting our borders. Throughout this first week, we are going to learn a number of concepts in which we will be doing business to enable us to facilitate legitimate trade – and focus on persons who pose the greatest risk or threat to our borders or to security in Anguilla.”
He later told The Anguillian newspaper: “With the challenges that we are now facing in Anguilla, as part of the international trade, we will never have sufficient resources to examine every passenger and every piece of cargo. Training, like this, using the Rovertech concept, will enable us to focus our limited scarce resources on the people who pose the highest risk to our borders in terms of terrorism, drug-trafficking and other sorts of threats; those persons, in terms of cargo, who pose the highest risk to revenue such as evasion of customs duties and so on. This training focuses on behaviour analysis which means that we examine passengers’ behaviour and those are the ones we will bring in for further examination. We look at consignments in terms of the supply chain and the training will help us to identify the cargo containers, pallets or boxes that probably may be carrying something detrimental to our society. The training will enable us to use what we have to get our work done right.”
Mr. Carty continued: “Next week we will have the Intermediate Level 2 Course which will focus on specialised teams. These will include the Marine Unit; the K-9 Unit; the Container Unit; the Task Force of the Royal Anguilla Police Force; and a security team from Her Majesty’s Prison. It is a joint effort to protect our borders. The Customs Department realises that protecting our borders is not something that we can do alone as the theme of our Strategic Plan 2020 is: ‘An inter-connected approach to protecting our borders.’”
