New security measures in place for Inter-school Athletics Championships

Security measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of patrons at this year’s Inter-school Athletics Championships and the organizing committee is urging parents and guardians of students to do their part.{{more}}

“At the end of the day, you are responsible for your children; we do what we have to do, we provide the particular activity – we have a cut-off point at which we ensure that your children get out of that facility and try to ensure that they access transportation to get home,” Keith Joseph, president of Team Athletics SVG and member of the inter-school organizing committee said on Tuesday at the launch of the championships.

According to Joseph, there have been some concerns raised over the after championship activities and he feels that the committee has been treated unfairly in the media for those events.

“It’s really not something that we can manage and it’s something that we should not be held responsible for,” he said.

Following the secondary school segment of the inter-school games last year, an after party was shut down by the authorities, with at least one student being taken into the care of the police after becoming intoxicated at the said event, dubbed the “Official After-party.”

Members of the Rapid Response Unit and Criminal Investigations Department intervened and closed down the party, which was said to be attended by scores of students from around the country.

It has been announced that an entertainment aspect will be added to the games this year which begin on April 9 with the Inter-primary Championship Meet. The secondary school segment features an inter -school dance-off competition and entertainment by a live DJ.

Joseph, however, defended this, saying that a new component had been added to the planning of the event and that sport is actually a show.

“We look at the Super Bowl and we ought not to try to limit that. What we want to do is to provide an entertainment package…not to take away from the sporting events, but to add value to what we are offering the patrons,” he explained.

There is a security section on the organizing committee, he said, and a variety of mechanisms have been put in place over the years to minimize the occurrence of criminal activity at the games.

“We have been on top of it; in years gone by we have had a number of incidents of gang violence, but those things have been totally wiped out,” Joseph said. (DD)