Wednesday, December 16, marks the completion of the United States government\u2019s year-long\u00a0 US$1 million upgrade of the Royal Grenada Police Force Coast Guard\u2019s two nearshore\u00a0 intercept vessels. The SAFE Boat Mid-Life Upgrade included a complete vessel overhaul, new\u00a0 engines, and a spare parts package to ensure continued operability. The upgrades extend the\u00a0 vessels\u2019 performance for an additional six years and bring the Grenadian Coast Guard fleet\u00a0 to full strength.<\/p>\n
The upgrade of the two Grenadian Coast Guard drug interceptor vessels was made possible\u00a0 through U.S. State Department\u2019s Caribbean Basin Security Initiative\u2019s (CBSI) Foreign\u00a0 Military Financing (FMF) program and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). Work was\u00a0 conducted by SAFE Boats International technicians, the CBSI Technical Assistance Field\u00a0 Team (TAFT) and Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA). The project supports Grenada\u2019s\u00a0 own defense and its contributions to regional security.<\/p>\n
U.S. Embassy Principal Officer Karl Duckworth explained, \u201cThis vessel upgrade continues\u00a0 SOUTHCOM\u2019s and the U.S. Embassy\u2019s Enduring Promise of regional support and security\u00a0 cooperation with Grenada and the Eastern Caribbean. We stand with Grenada to strengthen\u00a0 national border security, protect its territorial waters, and counter narcotics smuggling and\u00a0 other forms of transnational crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first vessel\u2019s overhaul process was completed in February, and it has been in active use\u00a0 as the backbone of Coast Guard operations for maritime security against illegal activity. Due\u00a0 to the global pandemic, the second vessel\u2019s upgrade completion was delayed until recently;\u00a0 however, in November, technicians returned to Grenada to complete their work. Certification\u00a0 sea trials performed last week completed the project, bringing the Grenadian coast guard\u00a0 fleet to full strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States is a strong partner on interdiction efforts, and the SAFE boats have been\u00a0 invaluable,\u201d said Deputy Commissioner of Police Franklyn Redhead. \u201cFor example, in April\u00a0 the RGPF used one of the boats to arrest three individuals, two from St. Vincent and one from\u00a0 Grenada, and recovered approximately 379 pounds of marijuana, a boat, and cash worth\u00a0 almost $320,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States originally provided the two SAFE boats to Grenada as part of CBSI FMF\u00a0 grant in 2012. With work able to resume in the Eastern Caribbean, Dominica, St. Kitts &\u00a0 Nevis, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines will also receive vessel upgrades in 2021. It is part\u00a0 of the U.S. Embassy\u2019s U.S.-Caribbean Strategy, which focuses on cooperation in the areas of\u00a0 security, health, energy, education, economic prosperity, and diplomacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday, December 16, marks the completion of the United States government\u2019s year-long\u00a0 US$1 million upgrade of the Royal Grenada Police Force Coast Guard\u2019s two nearshore\u00a0 intercept vessels. The SAFE Boat Mid-Life Upgrade included a complete […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=1068%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=1068%2C600&ssl=1",1068,600,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg",1068,600,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg",1068,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1",300,169,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C575&ssl=1",1024,575,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=1068%2C600&ssl=1",1068,600,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?fit=1068%2C600&ssl=1",1068,600,true],"mh-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=1030%2C438&ssl=1",1030,438,true],"mh-magazine-content":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=678%2C381&ssl=1",678,381,true],"mh-magazine-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=678%2C509&ssl=1",678,509,true],"mh-magazine-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=326%2C245&ssl=1",326,245,true],"mh-magazine-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/drealfmgrenada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumbnailLZ1COGE9-1068x600-1.jpg?resize=80%2C60&ssl=1",80,60,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"adminrfm","author_link":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/author\/adminrfm\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Local News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Wednesday, December 16, marks the completion of the United States government\u2019s year-long\u00a0 US$1 million upgrade of the Royal Grenada Police Force Coast Guard\u2019s two nearshore\u00a0 intercept vessels. The SAFE Boat Mid-Life Upgrade included a complete [...]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7706,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704\/revisions\/7706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drealfmgrenada.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}