DEPUTY Commissioner (ag) Paul Slowe yesterday assured a gathering of local journalists that security arrangements for the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup are well advanced. Guyana along with St Lucia, Barbados and St Kitts will host the showpiece for the shortest format of the game, with the first round and opening ceremony taking place at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, on April 30.
Speaking at a press conference hosted at the world-renowned facility, Slowe who will be in charge of the security aspect of the tournament said that over 300 security personnel will do duties from when the first team arrives in Guyana.
This is the second time that Slowe is in charge of security for one of cricket’s mega event, with the first being in 2007 when the ICC Cricket World Cup was held in the Caribbean and Guyana hosted matches during the Super-8 stages.
The long-serving member of the Guyana Police Force, who is part of an elite group of the country’s law enforcement, pointed out unlike 2007, the restrictions are not as steep but at the same time, they want to make sure that persons do not go overboard. They have laid out some strategic plans in which they will tackle security and control of the tournament.
“This time around things are not so strict for the tournament. You see, in 2007, the ICC had a long list of rules, regulations and guidelines that we had to follow, and still our security arrangements were above par as compared to the rest of the Caribbean who hosted Cricket World Cup,” said Slowe.
“But then again we cannot allow people to overdo it. This time people can bring coolers and so on, but we can’t allow a man to bring his fridge, you understand.
People can walk with umbrellas and so on, but we can’t let a man in a very big umbrella which will cause problems in the stands because he might block people from seeing, so we want this to be a real Carnival-like atmosphere and we can only do that if people cooperate with us, the Police”
“We also have the right to protect the sponsors of this tournament so, a man can bring drinks in the venue, yes, once it’s in a plastic bottle and it’s not wrapped in any other label than Pepsi. So if a man wants to bring in a coke, all we’ll ask is for him to take the plastic off; none of these things is different than 2007,” Slowe explained.

VENUE ACCESS
Only persons who are accredited and have tickets will be allowed to enter the venue on match days, which also include the two practice matches, and adherence to the rules Slowe said is a must.
“Let me say this, our security arrangements start when the teams arrive, so we have all the systems in place for their practice games and the warm-up matches. Now the warm-up matches are what we will use as a dry run for our security because we have two warm-up matches and entrance is free but, of course, you will have to get a ticket to come in, so we will be using these as dry runs because will have to get them right.
Remember this is not like 2007, so things would not be so tight. The ICC wants to create a friendlier-like circle but again with some restrictions,” Slowe explained.

TRAFFIC CONTROL
The area of traffic has been a sore point whenever a major cricket event or match is taking place at the Providence stadium, and Slowe explained that from the Houston carriageway of the four-lane highway heading to the stadium from Georgetown, the eastern half would be designated to vehicles and persons who are properly accredited and heading to the stadium, and would be known as the ‘Stadium Zone’.
“Only people who have a ticket and vehicle passes will be allowed to use those lanes on match days while the other half will be converted into a two-way lane to allow ordinary traffic.
But we know now everyone is fortunate to have a car and so on, so, we will set up drop-off points that will be in close proximity to the entrance of the stadium, so make it clear that only VIPs and Government officials along with people with vehicle passes will be allowed to traverse on that route.” Slowe pointed out.
Asked how assured can the people be that these decisions made at the top flight will trickle down  to the officers on the ground, Slowe stated that on April 19 all of the security officials will be gathered at the Providence stadium for training and a walkthrough of what is expected of them.
“See what we are trying to do is work with the people we had in 2007 so the process would be easier, so most of the people are from Cricket World Cup with the addition of some new faces, but I predict that we would have a smooth run like we did before.
We were given high praises after the last World Cup and what happens is we have the eyes of the world on us. We have to make sure that everything is done correctly because our mistakes can reflect on Guyana,” said Slowe.
A lavish opening ceremony is planned for April 30 after the New Zealand/Sri Lanka match which will be followed by West Indies first match of the tournament to be played against Ireland and it will be the first time that an ICC T20 World Cup match is being played under lights.
It was also said only tickets for the party stands are available at US$65 apiece since all the other tickets are sold out for that day along with West Indies other match on Monday May 3 which will also be played under floodlights against England.