London 2012 faces security issues
overestimated the number of security personnel that would be available for the Olympic Games by over six times, a top private sector security expert told a conference on 2012 security in London on Tuesday morning.
When London won the bid in Singapore back in 2005 the bid book said that 6,500 security personnel would be available. But at present there are only 1,000 available and a lot more training needs to be undertaken if the gap is to be closed by the time the Games start.
If not this would put pressure on the police who would have to step in.
David Evans, Project Director 2012 for the , also told a 2020 security conference that the bid had assumed that there would be a public private sector partnership which would deliver Games security.
But such a partnership has never been undertaken before, will be very difficult to deliver and there is no mechanism for it. Much more needs to be done urgently to make sure it happens so that there is proper security for the 2012 Games.
The London Games will be the biggest security operation ever seen in this country, possibly for any event in the world.
Evans highlighted security problems in previous Games including a bomb blast in the Olympic Park in Atlanta. There the park was stewarded by volunteers and following the blast they ran off into the dispersing crowd and were not able to provide the policing needed.
There were also security issues in Turin during the which forced the police to intervene.
London cannot afford for this to happen.
Evans has drawn up plans to train more personnel which will be presented to the London 2012 organising committee and government officials at a briefing on Thursday. Organisers, security experts and police alike must now hope that his solution will work.
The security conference on 2012 organised by the , Rusi to the people in the know, reflected the fact that with little over four years to go until the Games, security is now a huge issue for London 2012.
Tarique Ghaffur, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner in charge of security for 2012, admitted to the conference that there can never be enough personnel for security, much reliance would be placed on technology and the whole security system would have to be more proactive.
During the games a total of 5,000 police officers will be required with 1,500 of them coming from outside London but with also trawling all the London boroughs to draw on their police resources.
In addition to this in order to provide adequate protection services, which includes VIP protection, the police would have to find additional dogs and horses - numbers of which have been scaled down in recent years - and retired officers with relevant expertise may have to be brought back.
The agreement with the International Olympic Committee means anyone accredited for the Games can enter the country and there is need to make sure this accreditation procedure is done early.
Ghaffur spoke at some length of the need for a proper command and control structure.
Although he didn't go into the behind-the-scenes dealings on this issue, I understand this is something which has caused much debate and disagreement between various government departments as to who might foot the bill.
The will present a fully costed security plan by the autumn.
The £9.3 billion budget for the Games has provided £838m for security. Four years out the budget has only £1 billion of the £2.7billion contingency fund that has not been allocated.
What is still not clear is how much of this contingency might be needed for additional security costs, or whether this might cause the budget to increase beyond £9.3billion.
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