Trinidad police threaten Cup strike

Police officers in Trinidad and Tobago, where India and Sri Lanka will play their first round World Cup matches, have threatened to go on strike during the tournament in a pay dispute.

Cedric Neptune, president of the Police Social and Welfare Association, hinted that T & T police officers may withdraw from the unified Caribbean force formed to beef-up security during the seven-week long competition which starts with a series of warm-up matches next week.

"It is time to draw the line," said Neptune. "People are not fully appreciative of the extent of work involved with this particular World Cup in terms of all the escorts and security details. Our police officers are saying it has always been that we are paid for extra duty and don't come now and tell us we are not being paid for extra duty."

Police Commissioner Trevor Paul made it clear that T&T police officers assigned to work specifically at the World Cup local matches will not be paid extra duty allowances. Paul said because the cricketing body entered into an arrangement with the T&T government, by extension, police officers assigned to work during the World Cup will be working for the state.

But he explained that the 60 officers assigned to work with regional counterparts in various Caribbean islands for the event will be paid per diems, plus salaries and possibly overtime. Meanwhile, foreign police officers coming to the Caribbean for the World Cup will undergo cultural training ahead of the event.

Police officers from Britain, South Africa, Canada, France, and the Netherlands Antilles have been employed to boost security for the sport's showpiece being stage in the Caribbean for the first time.

To prevent any misunderstandings between the police officers and locals, they will be trained to respect the region's cultural norms, the commander of the regional troops has revealed. "What we have done is provide a booklet and also a system of briefings," said Colonel Anthony Anderson.

"We see this as one of the main ways of dealing with some of those cultural differences that might come up so you can rest assured that everyone coming in will be exposed to that briefing before hand."