By Marlon Munroe
The Security Director for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament said yesterday that systems are in place for any eventuality should the need arise at practice matches and during the World Cup that begins on April 30 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The Director, Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Slowe, gave this assurance following a one-day training programme yesterday during which members of the security detail, comprising ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and private security firms, heard presentations from officials who deal with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) at the stadium.
“These things are important. We don’t want persons coming to do security work and [they are] not told exactly what they are expected to do in any given situation so this is part of the process,” Slowe said.
Slowe told media workers that the programme was also conducted in the light of the two low-intensity bomb blasts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, India on Saturday morning. Slowe said he wants persons to be au fait with their roles during this time especially since Guyana will be on show and his group was expected to deliver like it did at the 2007 World Cup.
Further, Slowe indicated that last week’s training of ranks, who will be working at the hotels and manning the practice venues — Everest Cricket Club ground and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, Bourda — was completed. He said traffic officers were briefed on what was expected of them especially as it relates to the smooth flow of traffic on the East Bank Public Road from Houston to the stadium.
The security preparations for the showpiece event were finished a week in advance, and Slowe said this would give them an opportunity to fine tune arrangements for the big day; he acknowledged, however, that no plan is perfect.
“We want to ensure once again that we deliver a very precise arrangement. We have built a reputation of delivering very good security arrangements in Guyana and we don’t want to fall down at this stage so that is why we are going through this elaborate process of training and sensitising everyone concerned,” he said.
Bangalore attacks
Slowe said there were no demands made by external bodies, per se, to change what was being done all along. But he said there was now a heightened awareness that unforeseen tragedies can occur. He said the tragedy in Bangalore has cemented in his mind that there should be no complacency on Guyana’s part. He said systems are in place should such a catastrophe materialise and he has also urged personnel under his command to be alert for any unforeseen eventuality.
Slowe said security plans were afoot long before he knew what teams would have been playing in Guyana. Afghanistan, Ireland, New Zealand and the West Indies will be playing practice/warm-up matches in Guyana on April 27 and 28 at the stadium; the same routine is scheduled for Barbados, St Lucia and St Kitts (for the women’s warm-up games on May 2-3) the other three host countries.
The Afghan team, which is in Group C with India and South Africa, will arrive in Guyana on April 25 and then will depart before the event starts for St Lucia, where they will be playing.
He said that all levels of persons entering countries where matches will be played will be subjected to a comprehensive checking structure and if anyone is suspected of being a security risk s/he will be dealt with.
He said specific levels of personnel, inclusive of media operatives, will have to have appropriate accreditation for entrance to a particular zone.
There were around 40,000 spectators inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium at the time of the blasts and later another bomb was found and defused at a separate location outside the arena. Then, on Sunday morning another unexploded device was found several metres from the stadium while another bomb was found a short distance away.