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POLICE COMMISSIONER Francis Forbes came in for praise recently from Robert Mueller, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for his role in helping with an investigation involving Russian organised crime...

News Source: Jamaica Gleaner

Details were not available but sources said that Commissioner Forbes and Commissioner Darwin Dottin of Barbados, had helped FBI agents in Los Angeles, California, to trace the funds of a Russian organised crime group in their countries, which was crucial to a recent kidnapping/murder investigation.

Director Robert Mueller has been focusing on strengthening relationships with international partners in the global war on terror and the fight against transnational crime.

REGIONAL HELP WAS VITAL

Sources said law enforcement officials in the region have been instrumental in helping the FBI to investigate cross-border fugitives and drug trafficking organisations, money laundering operations, human smuggling rings, and other criminal enterprises.

More recently, the focus has shifted to terrorism, an important issue given the Caribbean's proximity to the southern border of the United States and its offshore banking resources.

As a result, the FBI in recent years has set up international offices, called Legal Attach?s, in Bridgetown, Barbados; and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The Legal Attach? in Caracas, Venezuela, which borders the Caribbean Sea, is also responsible for relationships with some islands in the area.

Director Mueller visited Bridgetown, Barbados, in December specifically to meet and talk with law enforcement leaders at the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) Conference. The ACCP, dedicated to improving co-operation, information sharing, management, and training in the region, is made up of the heads of 24 Caribbean police agencies.

Six ACCP members are graduates of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. During his visit, Mueller, underscored the importance of partnerships in the region, saying: "We have different ways of looking at different crimes and handling defendants within our own judicial systems. In fact, we must, as police agencies look to sharing information quickly and expeditiously because to do so now would prevent the next crime and the next terrorist attack."

During the Washington D.C. sniper investigation, Assistant Commissioner Elton Martin of the Royal Police of Antigua helped the FBI conduct 42 joint interviews on the island, where Lee Malvo and John Muhammad first met.