From August 13-17, the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies held a course in Nassau, The Bahamas, on Countering Transnational Organized Crime, with the participation of 22 officials from the Bahamian government and 5 from Turks and Caicos. The participants examined the topic from both the regional and local perspectives, including drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, trafficking in persons, counterfeiting, and cyber crime. The course activities were designed to lead students to accomplish the following objectives:

• identify and qualify the problem (Transnational Organized Crime in the Caribbean and in The Bahamas);
• analyze implications on the Bahamian state and population of the current crime situation;
• assess the ability of the Bahamian state to respond to the challenges; and
• recommend measures for improving the State’s response.

Contributing to the course were Commissioner Owen Ellington, from the Jamaican Constabulary Force, who spoke on “The Tragedy of Tivoli Gardens”, and Mr. John Dinkelman, Chargé d’ Affaires at the US Embassy in Nassau, who discussed Trafficking in Persons. Both sessions generated very lively and informative debates.