Two local police officers have qualified as Post Incident Managers after completing a course in the UK last week.

Inspectors Stephen Riley from the Royal Gibraltar Police and Mahesh Chellaram from the Gibraltar Defence Police travelled to Peterborough for the five-day-long College of Policing course. 

Now the officers are officially qualified to deal with incidents involving a death or serious injury where there has been an interaction with police officers or staff – in line with UK police forces.

Inspector Stephen Riley, said: “It was a very good, insightful course, but hard work. It centres a lot on the welfare of the officers involved, which I liked, and we as an organisation need to get this right from the start.”

Inspector Mahesh Chellaram, said: “It was a very informative and intensive course, which provided me with the skills to initiate immediate action to manage a post incident. It is crucial to ensure the integrity of any subsequent investigation whilst providing that protection and welfare for all officers or staff involved is provided. 

“We had a number of incidents last year where a few of our officers were involved in such incidents, and with what I have learnt on this course, I believe the force is in a better position to manage and assist officers in similar circumstances. The implementation of the procedures and associated logistics is something we will start to look into.”