Fri | May 22, 2026

Ja partners with Canada on polygraph exam training

Published:Saturday | December 24, 2022 | 12:06 AM
Pause
Seven polygraph examiners, and an officer from the Barbados Police Service successfully graduated from the MOCA Polygraph Examiners’ Course, a Canada-supported advanced training course to improve the capacity of law enforcement officers to conduct screen
Contributed
Seven polygraph examiners, and an officer from the Barbados Police Service successfully graduated from the MOCA Polygraph Examiners’ Course, a Canada-supported advanced training course to improve the capacity of law enforcement officers to conduct screening and general vetting services. The group is pictured here with course and partner representatives.
From left; Colonel Desmond Edwards, director general of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, with Michel Drayton, inspector of Advanced and Specialised Police Training at the Canadian Police College.
Contributed
From left; Colonel Desmond Edwards, director general of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, with Michel Drayton, inspector of Advanced and Specialised Police Training at the Canadian Police College.
1
2

Seven polygraph examiners have successfully graduated from the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency’s (MOCA) polygraph examiners’ course, a Canada-supported advanced training course to improve the capacity of law enforcement officers to conduct screening and general vetting services.

“This course has been a wonderful example of a positive and successful international training initiative between the Canadian Police College (CPC), the law enforcement agencies, and Canada and Jamaica in building the capacity of polygraph examiners in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” said Michel Drayton, inspector of Advanced and Specialised Police Training at the CPC, who delivered the keynote address at the graduation ceremony.

Other high-level speakers included Colonel Desmond Edwards, director general of the MOCA, Courtney Williams, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, among others.

Since 2007, Canada has provided basic and advanced polygraph training to dozens of Jamaican law enforcement agents. However, this is the first time the training is being delivered in Jamaica. Instructors from the CPC delivered the training course with the assistance of senior polygraph examiners from Jamaica.

Polygraph is an essential security screening tool used to help assess the suitability of employees applying for law enforcement, corrections, and military. It is a valuable step in a multi-step process used to hire people into high-risk areas of employment to combat security threats from organised crime and internal corruption, a release noted.

With this increased capacity, MOCA is expected to deliver polygraph training locally to increase the number of qualified examiners.

The 10-week course, implemented in partnership with the CPC and the MOCA, provided training and certification in polygraph examination, and successful participants received accreditation from the Canadian Association of Police Polygraphists (CAPP) and the American Polygraph Association (APA).

The CPC is a significantly credible institution in Canada and abroad. It is the only institution in Canada where law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies can train to become certified polygraph examiners.