Tony Becca, Contributing Editor

Left: ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. Managing Director and CEO Chris Dehring   Right: Robert Bryan, executive director of the Local Organising Committee for CWC 2007. - File

There is an old saying in Jamaica, it goes like this, "duppy know who to frighten", and although they are not duppies, far from it, maybe the members of the Police Federation who have been talking about their members getting paid for working during the World Cup believe they can frighten the organisers.

Well, if that is so, based on the response of Chris Dehring, head of ICC CWC West Indies 2007, and Robert Bryan, head of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) in Jamaica, they are barking up the wrong tree.

According to the police representatives, the authorities in Barbados and elsewhere are going to pay their police extra for work done during the World Cup and they are insisting that Jamaican policemen and women are similarly rewarded.

Again, according to the police representatives, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has something in the budget to do just that and the police should get it.

Money for security

According to Dehring, however, he does not know about what is happening in Barbados or elsewhere and although there is money set aside for security, he does not know about any money set aside by the ICC for paying the police.

According to Bryan, the LOC in each country has a contractual arrangement with the respective governments, which includes some aspects of security. The police have a job to do, and they are expected to do that job.

According to both men, it is as simple as that - and that seems simple enough.

It should be obvious to everyone that the police are paid to protect the citizens of this country, and although sometimes when you are putting on a big show that hopefully will attract a large crowd, you have to beg them, sometimes you have to pay them, and most times you have to feed them, that protection is even more important on big occasions - be it a political meeting, a church rally, or a big sport event.

The organisers of these events should only have to pay for security whenever they are forced to go outside and employ private security firms.

Law enforcement

Neither Dehring nor Bryan said it, but the police, like soldiers, nurses, and air traffic controllers, are employed by the government to do a job - law enforcement - to protect the people of this country. And World Cup cricket or no World Cup cricket, that is what is expected of them, and especially so in something as big and as important as the World Cup.

On top of that, if the organisers of the World Cup and, apart from paying the usual overtime, the government of the country are expected to pay the police extra for doing their duty, then it follows that they would be obliged to also pay the soldiers, the nurses and even the air traffic controllers for doing what they are already paid to do.

That simply would not make sense, and hopefully, it is, like what happens around the world at all major events when show time is approaching, simply an attempt to stick up the organisers - to try and see what they can get if they can get away with it.

In the interest of the World Cup, in the interest of our guests - players and visitors - in the interest of the image of Jamaica, and in the interest of Jamaica selling itself for future benefits to the people, hopefully it is not a threat.