Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer

An international training course for bodyguards providing executive protection service has included Jamaica on its itinerary as a port of call in the Caribbean.

The course, International Executive Protection Programme, is designed by Sexton Executive Security of Fairfax, Virginia, which provides bodyguard services to executive, corporate sector and high-network individuals, according to training director John Sexton.

The seven-day course had its inaugural training session aboard the Carnival Liberty cruise ship that docked in Ocho Rios recently, after stops in Cozumel (Mexico) and Grand Cayman.

"We have students who desire to work internationally, or are working internationally, and in every port we have day class, also real-life, practical scenarios - perhaps somebody gets aggressive and bumps into them, somebody may want to start a fight, maybe somebody posing to be drunk and getting in the way, things that can happen in real life," explained Sexton.

Routine on the streets

In Ocho Rios, the students went through their routine on the streets as part of their training and it went well, Sexton said.

Those selected for the course were security personnel who had gone through entry-level training and were seeking to upgrade their skills with this advanced course.

Sexton said his company hopes to hold the international training course twice per year.

Regarding the land-based courses in the USA, the company's goal is to hold an executive training programme every month in one of the cities in the USA.

Response to the company's training courses has been good.

"It's incredible, it's absolutely fantastic, everybody who goes through our training course, their response has been fantastic," he explained. But "it's really tough because we deliver a lot of information, long hours, they have a little down time but no too much."