This week, the Royal Gibraltar Police have been hosting a two-day seminar of Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST) Officers from UK police forces, as well as officers from the UK Border Force and MOD.  In total, 17 officers attended in person with a similar number attending online.

The delegates from UK were welcomed to New Mole House by Assistant Commissioner Cathal Yeats and, online, by (Temporary) Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist of the Metropolitan Police.

PPST officers hold these seminars four times every year but this is the first time that an event has been held outside the UK.

Co-Chair of the National Tactical Advisory Group, Sergeant Phil Evans of the Metropolitan Police said, ‘One of our most enthusiastic members is Sergeant Paul Chiara of the RGP and he has often travelled to UK to attend our meetings.  We decided that it was time that we visited Gibraltar rather than to expect him always to come to UK.’  Phil also added that all travel costs were met by the officers’ own forces and not by the RGP.

The first day of the meeting was used by delegates to update each other with new trends in crime and to discuss how tactics and training techniques should evolve to meet these trends.

Sergeant Paul Chiara explained that, at this seminar, there was a particularly useful discussion regarding E-Scooters.  ‘Some of these vehicles can travel at up to 50kph and so we talked about methods of bringing one to a halt if the rider doesn’t stop when signalled to do so – methods that do not endanger either the rider or the officer.’

On the second day of the event, officers discussed the latest developments in equipment and they were also able to examine and test some of the new tools of the trade at an exhibition in Central Hall.

Phil Evans said, ‘This has been an extremely useful seminar and, for me as a Metropolitan Police officer, it has been valuable to see at first hand some of the issues faced by our colleagues elsewhere.’