RGP Officers qualify as Specialist Licensed Search Officers

Some 15 officers from the Royal Gibraltar Police, and two officers from the Gibraltar Defence Police, have qualified as Licensed Search Officers (LSOs).

The officers successfully completed a course hosted by the RGP and delivered by instructors from the United Kingdom’s Police National Search Centre (PNSC).

The PNSC is a joint police and military unit authorised by the National Police Chiefs Council as the sole provider of training in counter-terrorism, crime and missing person search techniques.

The RGP said Licensed Search Officers play a vital role in protecting the public, working as part of trained search teams under the direction of a Police Search Adviser (PolSA), in three categories of deployment, namely, counter-terrorism, crime and missing person searches.

Teams carry out systematic, intelligence-led searches of venues, premises, vehicles, routes and open areas, in support of major events, planned operations and incidents.

Throughout the week, officers received classroom instruction in methods of attack, learning to recognise potential threats and indicators, as well as in-depth training in search procedures, health and safety and responses to discovering suspicious items.

Classroom learning was reinforced through daily practical exercise scenarios, with the course culminating in two written examinations covering Methods of Attack and Search Procedures and requiring an 80% pass mark, together with two final assessed practicals where officers were required to demonstrate their ability to plan, conduct and record a search to the required standard under assessment conditions.

Commissioner of Police Owain Richards presented those who successfully completed the course with their certificates and accreditation.

“This is a demanding course with no shortcuts and high pass marks required for all assessments in order for students to receive their accreditation, and rightly so,” RGP Superintendent Paul Chipolina, Head of Operations and Strategic Lead for Specialist Capabilities said.

“Whenever we deploy Police specialist search teams operationally, which in Gibraltar occurs frequently throughout the year, teams must perform to high standards and provide Police Commanders, our partners, and the wider community, with the confidence that their work is conducted diligently and methodically.”