Caribbean news. Heads and representatives of the Caribbean UK High Commissions and leading Caribbean UK Businesses met at the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission on Thursday 13th March to listen and discuss issues relating to Crime, Security and Business Initiatives impacting the Caribbean from 3 leading global Professionals, Mark Shields, Denis St.Bernard and George Moffat, all with indebth knowledge, experience and expertise in the areas of Crime, Security Risk Management and business in the Caribbean and internationally.
‘The timing is perfect for this sort of initiative and we will certainly be engaging with this unit going forward’ sighted the Barbados High Commissioner HE Johnson. This was endorsed by Mr. Leandre Charge d’ Affaires Embassy of The Republic of Haiti, along with the Caribbean High Commission Head Representatives from St.Vincent , St.Kitts and Nevis and the Bahamas.
BACKGROUND
Investment confidence is improving in the Caribbean, but so much more new business activity could be achieved if a proactive approach was supported and implemented by governments and key private sector stakeholders, that demonstrated to all potential investors that their target market was being transformed into a safe environment for their business ventures, sighted by the 3 International Security and Business Professionals, who have formed themselves into a Joint Venture Partnership.
The primary aim of this Joint Venture is to gain governmental and corporate approval that will back a multi-faceted business model capable of selling and implementing a number of dynamic new safety and security actions and accredited training strategies, which will build confidence and encourage inward investment into the Caribbean to support new and existing business growth and national development.
Short presentations were delivered by the Principals of this new and exciting joint venture partnership, which will commence activities across the Caribbean during 2014. Two of the partnership members are founding Directors of well established Caribbean companies – Shields Crime and Security Consultancy and the Priority Group.
The primary aim of the partnership is to gain governmental and trade and investment support to introduce to the Caribbean business community (and all potential inward investors) a number of new and dynamic safety and security actions and strategies intended to reduce the opportunity for crime, fraud and corruption, thereby building investment confidence. Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the OECS Countries will benefit from this exciting programme.
The Three Principals
Mark Shields
Mark Shields has an enviable reputation in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean through his four year tenure as Deputy Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and latterly as the owner of his own company, Shields Crime and Security Consultancy.
He has acquired a deep knowledge of all the issues that affect Jamaica and the business environment and successfully influenced substantial changes in both policing and social confidence and attitudes.
With more than thirty-years of policing in some of the world’s toughest criminal hotspots, from Frankfurt in Germany, London and Kingston in Jamaica, he has experience in VIP protection, hostage negotiation, strategic intelligence and serious crime and anti-terrorist investigations.
Mark Shields was the first international police officer to be recruited into the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). He was appointed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of crime and intelligence.
As Deputy Commissioner, he was engaged in policing at a strategic level with focus on modernising the police force, reducing the high murder rate in Jamaica, fighting police corruption, improving the standards of criminal investigations and developing an intelligence-led approach to policing some of Jamaica’s most dangerous areas.
He built an exemplary reputation with the people of Jamaica. His previous work included posts as a drugs and organised crime liaison officer with the National Criminal Intelligence Service, Shields worked from Frankfurt, Germany where he kept watch on the East European mafia and banking centres in Switzerland, then used by money launderers.
CENUK Director Denis St Bernard
Denis St Bernard is a Business Development Consultant and well known in the Caribbean Regional Insurance and Risk Management industry. He held the position of Vice –President of the Association of Insurance Institute of the Caribbean (AIIC); Principal and CEO of the Insurance College of Jamaica, before further successfully establishing himself in the Investigation and Security Sector in Jamaica.
This was all done over the last 16 years, as Founder of the Priority Group, which comprises a network of support service companies, which now extends into the UK’s Caribbean Diaspora market.
Accordingly, he has continued in the UK with his business endeavours, with the establishment of Priority First UK, a company whose vision is to provide business support, risk management and other related services both locally and internationally.
Having lived and worked on three continents, including Africa, with an impressive track record of turning around businesses, he naturally brings not only his Caribbean experiences but vital experiences and skills, gained in other regions, to the Joint Venture.
An accomplished sportsman he represented Trinidad and Tobago, as youth cricket captain in the late seventies and in bodybuilding (Mr. T&T) in the mid eighties.
Denis also has many years experience in community work and was Regional Coordinator of the United Nations Association of Jamaica (UNAJ). As a trained journalist, he still writes and is the founder and co host of Risky Business, a popular call–in radio programme, which aired on 95.5fm in Trinidad and Tobago and KALS in Jamaica.
George Moffatt
George Moffatt has extensive experience in private sector business management and public sector organisational development. He has just completed a three year term as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of a large third sector Charity/Company Limited by guarantee, where he led a successful reorganisation and change management programme.
During the previous two years he worked as an independent consultant conducting corporate investigations into fraud and corruption as well as advising a number of companies on Business Continuity Planning and Business Risk Management.
He worked internationally for eleven years, six of which in Jamaica. During those eleven years, he delivered specialist training, professional development, consultancy, strategic planning and capacity building to both public and private sector police and law enforcement organisations in Jamaica, South Africa, Ethiopia, Botswana, Sri Lanka, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Siberia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia.
After a successful career in a large UK police force, where he served as the Branch Commander of the Regional Crime Squad, a Divisional Commander and the Senior Detective Officer responsible for a large city area. He was for a number of years the Course Director for the two nationally acknowledged ‘flagship’ serious crime investigation courses delivered at the UK National Police College, Bramshill.
The knowledge and experience of Mark Shields and George Moffatt in fighting crime and anti-corruption will ensure that the focus and direction of the ‘Partnership’ will be maintained. The business development and marketing skills of Denis St. Bernard will support the growth and exposure of the business.
The Principals will be supported by a specially selected highly experienced team of trainers, consultants and technicians to bring the widest level of expertise to each area of the programme.
The Principals believe that their collective previous history of ethical and transparent business practices and approaches will strengthen the opportunities to create constructive partnerships with Caribbean Governments, private companies and organisations in the fight against business crime and corruption.
Crime Fighting Partnership (l-r) Mark Shields, H.E Garvin Nicholas High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago, Denis St Bernard and George Moffatt
LIST OF ATTENDEES
Meeting to examine a new proactive approach to fighting Business Crime, Corruption and the promotion of ethical Business Initiatives in the Caribbean
Mr. Leandre – Charge d’ Affaires – Embassy of The Republic of Haiti
H.E Donville Johnson – Barbados High Commission
H C Rep – Ms. Donyelle Ward – Bahamas High Commission
DHC Mills – Jamaica High Commission
DHC Wanda Connor – St.Kitts & Nevis High Commission
HC Whiteman – Grenada High Commission
HC Dr. Hilaire – St.Lucia High Commission
Ms. Paulette Simpson – Head of Jamaica National UK
Mr. Leon Hamilton – Chief Rep Jamaica National
Mrs. Austen Panther – Douglas – Manager Compliance JN
Jean – Paul Cumberbatch – Invest Barbados
Nigel Hibert – GM BNP Paribas UK
Clyde Baker – CENUK / Priority Group Chairman
Shurwin Harewood – UK Photo Journalist
Maureen Smith (Tropical Connections) – Caribbean Property Business
Carol Gosling – RBS Bank Business Manager
Del Attah – IT Web Enterprise – Zeraxis
Karen Thomas – TTHC Trade Advisor
