The Chief Police Officer for the ACT has extended his thanks to Canberra’s residents for their cooperation and understanding over the past few days in which the President of the United States, Barack H. Obama, has been visiting the nation’s capital.
Air Force One, carrying POTUS, departed Fairbairn Airport in Canberra at 1.31pm today (Thursday, November 18) en route to Darwin.
During his short overnight stay in Canberra, the President gave an address to Parliament, visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial, spoke with students and teachers at Campbell High School, and stopped off at the US Embassy.
CPO Roman Quaedvlieg expressed his gratitude to Canberrans for their patience and tolerance as local traffic was disrupted due to passage of the Presidential motorcade.
“We are aware that some people were inconvenienced by the security envelope which surrounds the President and his motorcade but we also need to keep in mind that Canberra was privileged to have a world leader visiting our national capital. Canberra is one of only two places visited by President Obama on this, his inaugural visit to Australia,” Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said.
“This very successful visit was the culmination of an enormous planning, logistics and liaison effort behind the scenes, involving our ACT Policing officers, the AFP, the Department of Defence, and the US Secret Service. The efforts of many officers, such as the bomb response team and our traffic and route security members, go unheralded but are vital to ensure the safe and smooth passage of these high-profile guests to our city.”
“To all our members who made this happen, many thanks.”
Thanks to Stephen for the lovely photo sent in with this note:
The cyclist in the orange shirt was about to cross the intersection – in the middle of the Obama motorcade! He veers away at the last moment as a police officer cuts in front of him. That’s Obama in the car on the left.