Jamaica Prepared to Handle Security for World Cup Cricket- Dr. Phillips

With Jamaica taking on the lead role in coordinating security arrangements for World Cup Cricket 2007, Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, has said that the country was fully prepared to handle the task.
“We are confident that we are prepared in Jamaica, to accept the responsibilities as far as the hosting of Cricket World Cup 2007 is concerned”, he stated, as he addressed the opening of the Delta Company Burke Barracks of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) yesterday (Aug. 19) in Montego Bay.
Dr. Phillips, who heads CARICOM’s Subcommittee on Resource Mobilisation for Crime and Security, said he had consulted with international partners and colleague security ministers in Europe, North America and the Caribbean, and recent security exercises were held in Jamaica to test the operational readiness of Jamaica and other Caribbean security forces, and the disaster management capabilities of the respective national institutions.
In keeping with a request from CARICOM for Jamaica to coordinate the Caribbean response on the military side, Colonel Tony Anderson has been assigned chief security officer for the event.
Dr. Phillips said that Colonel Anderson would be operating out of Trinidad, for the period, in coordinating the security preparations. “Let me again state the indispensable role of the JDF in these preparations, and the extent to which our confidence in our ability as a region to stage Cricket World Cup 2007 is rooted in our reliance and confidence in the capacity of the Jamaica Defence Force”, he stated.