Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs was in high praise of the Police and the Defence Force yesterday for ensuring that Carnival celebrations remained crime-free and safe for the thousands of revellers who enjoyed the festival...
News Source: Trinidad Express
Snaggs said over 3,000 uniformed officers were on hand throughout the streets of Port of Spain, watching over the celebrations. Snaggs deemed this year's Carnival celebrations the safest and best ever.
"I must say that this is our best Carnival ever. We didn't have any incidents at all and there were no arrests that I know of. I really want to thank the Police Service and Defence Force for doing an excellent job," Snaggs told reporters.
Port of Spain Mayor Murchison Browne, who was on hand calling the bands forward and taking in the parade, was also pleased with the level of security and safety provided for revellers in the city.
"It was a very good Carnival. No incidents at all. It was just excellent," Browne said. Some masqueraders broke away from their bands to shake Browne's hand and commend him for doing a good job with the celebrations.
Downtown Carnival Supervisor Cynthia Lockhart agreed that Carnival 2004 was one of the safest and "cleanest. I say clean because last year, though the police did their best, there were still a lot of arrests. This year I didn't see anyone get arrested. There were minor incidents, maybe, but nothing to talk about. It is truly one of the cleanest carnivals I've seen," Lockhart said.
Under the watchful eyes of police officers, thousands of masqueraders paraded in carefree manner throughout the streets of the capital for a second straight day.
There seemed to be more people playing mas this year.
In Poison alone, there were a record 8,000 revellers. The band had 18 music trucks and 35 sections. Poison's presentation for 2004 was Retromania...a Blast from the Past.
Revellers jumped and pranced to Destra Garcia's "Bonnie and Clyde", Machel Montano's "Insane" and Shurwayne Winchester's "Look de Band Coming" which remained the three top tunes for the day.
