April 19, 2009

Port of Spain: President of the United States, Barack Obama, has praised Trinidad and Tobago’s security officials for the arrangements put in place for the Fifth Summit of the Americas which was concluded today in Trinidad and Tobago.

President Obama expressed his thanks to Acting Commissioner of Police, Gold Commander for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Steve Waldron for the excellent work done by his team of officers.

ACP Waldron, who heads the security operations which includes the Joint Inter-Agency Multinational Task Force, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Kenrick Maharaj, was invited today (Sunday April 19, 2009) by President Obama to the Trinidad Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre.

The Gold Commander said that “the United States President personally thanked Trinidad and Tobago’s security officials for providing the highest level of safety to the visiting Heads of State and Government and their delegations”.

ACP Waldron stated that he and his troops were also praised by senior security officials from the United States. He noted that “many of the US officials were quite impressed, saying that they had been to several other countries and had not seen security conducted so efficiently.” ACP Waldron said the accolades his troops have received “are a testament to the well planned security arrangements for the Fifth Summit of the Americas”.

Also invited to the special meeting with President Obama and his security team, were Lieutenant Colonel Kenrick Maharaj, Senior Superintendent Lyndon McMillan, Assistant Superintendent Gary Gould, Assistant Superintendent Henderson Fernandez and Inspector Patrick McMillan.

ACP Waldron said “no effort had been spared by security planners to achieve maximum security with minimum disruption to the citizenry of Trinidad and Tobago as well as the observance of international best practice during the three-day international meeting”.

VSOA-TT 54-2009