Citizens of Region Urged to be more Vigilant During CWC 2007

Colonel Anthony Anderson, Commander for the CARICOM Operational Planning and Co-ordinating Staff (COMPACS), is encouraging citizens of the region to be more vigilant, as they are critical to the security architecture put in place for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
“They are the main source of intelligence and information for us and it is for every citizen to understand that they are key to the whole security architecture of the region,” he told JIS News in an interview.
Explaining how persons can play their part in helping to ensure that the ICC CWC 2007 is safe for all, Colonel Anderson said if they notice or observe anything out of the ordinary, they should report to their local police.
“It is generally the small things that people see and notice, but do not really pay attention to and even try explain it away. It is those things that can be reported,” he said.
“In most countries there are hotlines and so no matter how insignificant it appears, we need to know so that we can develop a picture on it. We want many eyes out there,” the Colonel said.
The COMPACS is the body charged with the responsibility of some of the security arrangements that affect the region in respect to hosting the ICC CWC 2007. The entity, which came out of the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis in 2006, has pulled together the various national security arrangements from around the region and has also looked at the planning, to allow for CARICOM nations involved in the cricket to support each other through the loaning of assets.
This is addition to co-ordinating security activities, so that there is no weak link in the chain of security in the region, the nine host countries and also Dominica.
For the first time in the history of Cricket World Cup, some nine countries in the Caribbean will play host. They include Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.