OKINAWA, Japan –
Police officers and security guards participated in anti-terrorism force protection training here Dec. 24.
The police officers, with the Urasoe Police Department, and the Marines and Japanese security guards with the Camp Kinser Provost Marshal’s Office coordinated during a mock scenario in which they worked together to apprehend suspicious persons and vehicles attempting to access Camp Kinser.
“We provide security and law enforcement, and in this scenario we provided both,” said Capt. Braden T. Trainor, the operations officer with PMO, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler, Japan . “We had somebody react to an access control issue at the gate, they detected something suspicious and kept out (an individual) who was potentially dangerous to the installation.”
The two-part exercise started with Japanese security guards identifying a suspicious vehicle. They called PMO to assist, who then searched the vehicle and notified Urasoe police to turn the suspected driver over to them.
The drill allowed PMO Marines, Japanese security guards and Urasoe officers to put their knowledge into practice.
“The (drill) was very valuable because we have Marine Corps bases in different areas,” said Maj. Yoshihisa Kori, the battalion commander of the Japanese security guard .
The exercise strengthened the Urasoe police’s relationship with Japanese security guards and Camp Kinser PMO, according to Kori.
In the second scenario, a suspicious person tried to walk onto the installation. The Japanese security guards identified the person and began the process of searching the individual, notifying installation law enforcement, and turning the suspect over to the Urasoe police. The simulated response to both the suspicious suspect and the suspicious vehicle showcased how all three forces work as a team.
Trainor stressed that these drills are important not only for installations on Okinawa, but for installations all over the world.
“We all coordinated together,” said Trainor a native of Charleston, South Carolina. “So in that aspect besides just (installation) security, Marines and Japanese people worked together for bilateral coordination and host nation training, which is good for our relationship abroad.”