Forty police officers were recently trained as crime prevention experts and will be now be able to advise citizens on how to better secure their homes and prevent crime in their households.

In a release issued by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), the police said two officers were trained abroad and have since trained others who will be deployed in different police divisions islandwide.

"What these people do is look at crime prevention and see how they can prevent it from happening in the first place. They can give advice and guidance. They are very well trained in how to look at houses or business premises to stop crime," Assistant Commissioner of Police John McLean said.

ACP McLean, who is in charge of community safety and security, said in the release that two officers went to Scotland Yard for an intensive, five-week training course where they learnt to provide expertise on physical and social crime prevention, the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV), and crime prevention in building designs.

"These officers have now come back with the skills and we have commenced a training programme to get officers up to speed in these areas," ACP McLean said.

The police have also completed a two-week training course with representatives of the National Housing Trust and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

ACP McLean said the police crime prevention expertise is now available to the public. "There are probably two crime prevention officers in each division and they will go out and do crime prevention surveys of your home free of cost. They will give you advice on what to do to protect your home," he said.

In the meantime, as part of the ongoing crime strategies introduced by the police, safety committees have been established in 11 parishes.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Valeen Calder, said in the release that safety committees have not yet been established in St. Elizabeth, Kingston and St. Andrew, due to the impact of Hurricane Dean and other events in these parishes.

She said that the safety committees, which were previously called crime prevention committees, are "geared at bringing together agencies to partner and solve problems."

"If we can shed light on the (community) problems then we can return to normal policing," she said.