'I’m no expert in the geopolitical landscape': Police chief vows to come up with vetting process after Dubai trip comes under scrutiny

Police chief responds to controversial Dubai trip London's police chief is promising a vetting process after officers attended a tactical competition in Dubai. Bryan Bicknell explains.

London’s police chief said the London Police Service is developing a vetting process for future events outside of North America that officers may take part in.

It follows questions that were raised when it was learned the LPS Emergency Response Unit had taken part in a tactical competition in Dubai that also involved military units from countries with questionable human rights records.

“Challenging yourself against the best of the best. This is considered the Olympics of emergency response,” explained Chief Thai Truong of the contest.

The decision to take part came under fire last month when it was learned that military teams from Belarus, accused of human rights atrocities, and the Russian Republic of Chechnya, now fighting Ukraine, also took part.

The chief explained that he understood the event to be for law enforcement only, and he was surprised to learn that military units were involved at all.

“I’m no expert in the geopolitical landscape,” he said.

“I would challenge anyone without a PhD or a real formal education who knows all these world politics. I’m not making any excuses, I’m simply making an observation in this organization that we do not have experts in our organization to inform us,” said Chief Truong.

It was an explanation the board accepted.

“And I know that a lot of people here were really ticked off, a lot of Ukrainians, because you didn’t know. But we don’t know what we don’t know,” said Board Vice Chair Megan Walker.

“I do not have a PhD in international relations,” added Chair Ali Chahbar. “You don’t have a PhD international relations. I don’t think anybody around this table has a PhD in international relations.”

The chief said he’s developing a review process that he expects to present to the board in the coming weeks. He’s hoping to tap into expertise at Fanshawe College and Western University.

“So when we get opportunities, that we don’t fall into this situation again,” said Truong.