Stadium security team gets specialist training
Guyana Chronicle
February 27, 2007
SECURITY personnel, who will be manning the cricket stadium at Providence for the Cricket World Cup matches here, yesterday began a four-day training programme under the tutorship of stadium security specialists from the UK-based company Oriel/Control Training Systems (CTA).
The security forces comprise recruits from the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) as well as several private security firms.
At the orientation, Police Commissioner Henry Greene said that while international sports have been hosted in Guyana before, stadium management is new to Guyana as the stadium at Providence is the first of its kind here.
In light of this, he stressed that training security personnel is vital to ensure that every person who attends the event is assured that their life is safe during that period.
Mr. Greene is confident that the Guyanese security personnel will discharge their responsibilities in accordance with expectations.
Convenor of the security committee of CWC, Assistant Commissioner Paul Slowe, implored the security personnel undergoing the specialised training to be diligent in their approach so that they could give a good account of themselves during the event.
Head of the Oriel/CTA training team, Harry Legge-Bourke, said some 4,000 security personnel in the Caribbean are undergoing training for hosting CWC which is based on disasters experienced in Europe.
He said the training that will be carried out will help to ensure that security personnel will discharge their duties and responsibilities which encompass customer care, crowd dynamics and conflict resolution, among other areas.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, emphasised that the issue of security is not being taken lightly.
Tremendous attention is being paid to security readiness and nothing is being left to chance, he assured.
He noted that many people had expressed the view that hosting CWC in Guyana was not possible, but declared that “team Guyana has made the impossible become possible.”
The minister said hard work and team effort is the recipe towards the successful staging of the mega event - the third largest sporting tournament in the world which is being hosted for the first time in the Caribbean.
Hosting CWC, he said, is not a simple matter as it encompasses a complexity of preparations, including getting the stadium ready, having adequate security and safety measures, sufficient trained personnel including volunteers, without which it would not have been possible to host the event, and the provision of suitable accommodation.
With respect to the latter, the minister said it became necessary for the government to advance $168M to ensure the guaranteeing of rooms at Buddy’s International Hotel which was recently opened and began operations yesterday.
In addition, some 20 small hotels have sprung up or have been refurbished during the period of preparations for CWC, Anthony said.
A bed and breakfast programme, he said, is also in place to augment the bigger programme of accommodating the anticipated large influx of visitors.
Assuring that all aspects of readiness at the stadium site are being addressed, Anthony said the media centre is fully equipped at this time to broadcast to any part of the world, while internet facilities will be installed shortly.
He indicated that 52 persons will be available at the medical centre of the stadium to provide health care for any emergencies or other medical assistance.
Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organising Committee, Karran Singh implored the security personnel to maximise the benefits of the training programme as the skills they acquire could be relied upon in the future, noting that some US$2M is being spent on security training.
The Super Eight matches will run from March 28 to April 9.
Meanwhile, the ground staff at the stadium told this newspaper that the outfield and pitches are in a state of readiness and efforts are ongoing to have them in the best possible condition for the matches.
They also said that following the recent 20/20 match to make an initial assessment of the pitch and outfield, another match of the longer version of 50 overs is scheduled for March 10 to make further assessments. (CHAMANLALL NAIPAUL)