The executive board of the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) met with police officials on Monday to discuss safety and security, new routes and other issues regarding Carnival 2011.
The SCDF was represented by its president Stuart Johnson, Treasurer Erno Labega and Secretary Michael Granger. Police Commissioner Carl John and Inspector Ricardo Henson represented the police force of St. Maarten.
Johnson explained that safety and security are of the utmost priority for the SCDF and open communication with the police force re-enforces that priority puts both entities on the same page when it comes ensuring that Carnival revelers have a safe season.
"We have maintained a very open and professional working relationship with the police force and our meeting on Monday reflected that. It was cordial and very open and honest. By now both the SCDF and Police are very familiar with eachother’s operations, so our discussions focused mainly on issues that needed tweaking," Johnsons said.
The force was apprised of the fact that the Carnival schedule features five jump-ups with varying starting points and routes (to be announced in a subsequent release) and the combination of the Junior and Grand Parades.
"Once we adhere to mutually agreed upon stipulations, the police had no problems with any of our changes. We think the public will be very excited about some of the new things we’ll be doing in terms of routes. We are also counting on the public to adhere to peace and order to avoid incurring the strong arm of the law. It’s Carnival, we all want to have a good time, not an out-of-hand time," Johnson said.