Border security training from the USCG happening now in the territory

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A team from the US Coast Guard Maritime Base out of Honolulu, Hawaii are on island to conduct training for the local border security’s consisting of the Department of Public Safety, Customs, Port Administration and Homeland Security.

On Thursday, Lieutenant JG Keil Cunningham led the training at the Faga’alu Park.

In an interview with Samoa News Lieutenant Cunningham said it’s going on two weeks since their arrival in the territory and they are conducting law enforcement exchange with departments that are involved with border security.

He said the dialogue covers a variety of issues including how the US Coast Guard responds to distress calls from people out at sea.

 “At the same time, we hear what the local law enforcements on how they do things.

“We covered a lot of general topics and general law enforcement practices we use such as boarding procedure, techniques and procedures when applying handcuffs out on the open water, of that nature,” said Lieutenant Cunningham.

One of the issues he cited was the need for every boat to have life jackets on board for the number of people traveling on the boat.

 “This is very important and it’s a matter of life and death and it’s a must to have these life saving equipment on every boat,” he said.

Lt Cunningham said the Marine Patrol have been good in getting the message out on the importance of having life jackets on board.

 “I would say there are not that many differences in terms of duties, there are a lot of similarities and I think overall we just want to protect the public and make sure that our boaters and our citizens are being safe when they are out in the water.

 “It is very important for all the boaters to have life saving equipment which includes life jackets, Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device to alert search and rescue services (SAR) in case of an emergency out at sea; radio, flares, anything that is required to protect yourself in any case you are in a situation where its life threatening you have something to alert others.

 “So far we have not encountered any challenges except the weather it has been rough out at sea, given that a lot of our training focuses out in the harbor and hopefully before we leave we are able to do training off shore,” said Lt Cunningham.

He said this is the first time since 2019 their team has visited, due to COVID, but they want to make sure that this will become an annual trip.