Female police officers from Jordan visited the RCMP in Ottawa this week for information-sharing and training to help strengthen their response to critical incidents and improve interactions with women.
The group of 16 officers from the Jordanian Gendarmerie was shown various techniques used by the RCMP to respond to critical incidents and medical emergencies. They also participated in firearms workshops and received overviews of RCMP protective policing programs.
The training was organized to enhance the work of the Jordanian Gendarmerie's female officers and how they are deployed to riots, security threats and medical emergencies.
Like in Canada, male police officers in Jordan are not allowed to search female suspects.
"The RCMP duties are similar to the Jordanian Gendarmerie,
" says Alaa Htebat, who has been a warrant officer for two years with the Gendarmerie. "They are concerned about matters of gender.
"
The visit has mutual benefits for RCMP officers and Canadians, says A/Commr. Paula Dionne of Federal Policing Intelligence and International Policing.
"Whatever happens in another country has a spin-off effect here, so anything that we make better in one country will help protect Canada better and strengthen peace and security around the world,
" says Dionne, who is also the RCMP Champion for Women in Peace and Security.
The visit to Canada, which was part of a Jordanian training program in partnership with Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP, was also an opportunity for the officers to learn tactics for effectively dealing with child soldiers, says Brigadier General Staff Moutasim Mahdi Abu Shattal, PhD, the Gendarmerie's Assistant to the General Director of Operations.
Jordan and Canada are both founding endorser countries of the Vancouver Principles, a set of commitments that take an assertive stance on preventing child recruitment by armed groups and forces in the context of peacekeeping operations.