Guyana looking for Caricom help to counter any world cup threats
-90% of stadium security to come from private sector
Stabroek News
December 18, 2006
Guyana has asked CARICOM for specialist assistance to counter any chemical or biological threats to the nation's security during the upcoming cricket world cup, security point man for the country, Assistant Police Commissioner, Paul Slowe has said.
Slowe told a media briefing at the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday that Guyana's security preparations are well underway.
"In terms of arrangements we are very well advanced," Slowe, also Commander of 'A' Division, said. He noted that Guyana did not need foreign personnel to come and do general policing as this was well taken care of.
He said that according to the International Cricket Council (ICC) requirements some 90% of the security officers at the stadium must come from private security firms. Slowe said however, that the police would be required to monitor other areas and as such there was still a lot of work to be done.
"We would have to monitor the practice venues, parking areas and generally the streets as tourists would want to go shopping and visit some of the night spots," Slowe said.
He added that some of the more advanced nations are offering certain kinds of security assistance, especially in the area of counter-terrorism. Slowe said Guyana has made its bid for this also.
Meanwhile, Regional Operations Commander of the Caricom Operations and Coordinating Staff (COPACS), Colonel Anthony Anderson said that overall he is pleased with the progress made so far in all the host nations. Anderson said that at this point most of the countries are at the stage where they are about to implement their security plans and he commended Guyana for the progress it has made.
Anderson noted that one of the key things is for host nations to understand the magnitude of the event and the scale of what they dealing with.
He said that their focus should be on creating an environment where the tournament is being held that would be hostile to criminals but comfortable and friendly to the spectators.
Anderson disclosed that CPACS was conceptualised at a meeting of the Heads of State of Caricom who decided that the Cricket World Cup tournament in the Caribbean would be hosted as a region. "With that clearly you have to secure that region and as a means of doing that a number of steps were taken. One was to designate a body, which could look at the regional security arrangements as a region and also to interface with the national agencies," Anderson told the media.
He added that once it was decided that a single domestic space would be created for the hosting of the event, each country has now become dependent on the others to secure their borders. Anderson said COPACS has been mandated to provide and coordinate assets to assist countries that are deficient in one way or another and also to ensure that there are certain common security standards across the region.
Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene who also attended the meetings said that Guyana has been able to cover most of the areas it is expected to.
At a regional level, Slowe said that through the International Security Assis-tance Group (ISAG), which was formed by CARICOM, approaches have been made to Brazil and Suriname for security assistance at those two countries' borders with Guyana.
Criminals have frequently crossed the Guyana-Suriname border with relative ease over recent years and two illegal ferry services at Corriverton, which ferry passengers across the Corentyne River, have not helped the situation.
Slowe told the conference that Oriel Solutions, which has won the contract for training and certifying security personnel for the stadium, said that 300 security officers would be needed at the venue.
He said 90% of this amount would have to be provided by private security firms, a requirement set by the ICC. Slowe said that three persons identified to be stadium security officers have recently completed training in Jamaica conducted by Oriel Solutions CES/CTC. He said that all security officers at the stadium must be trained and certified by Oriel, as part of the ICC requirement.
In addition, Slowe said that from February 26 to the 2nd of March a team of officers from Oriel Solutions will come to Guyana to train the 300 officers to work at the stadium.
Additionally, Slowe said next year February Guyana is scheduled to host two regional cricket matches and these would be used as testing events for security arrangements at the stadium.
Assistant Commissioner Slowe is officially designated as the Silver Commander of Guyana. He said his duties include providing security arrangements for the tournament, teams, officials and media. Slowe said that he had been interacting with COPACS and other bodies associated with CWC like the security directorate of CWC.