Having been involved, in a modest fashion, in the national planning and preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, ACPO president Sir Hugh Orde and myself took the opportunity before the start of the Paralympics to visit the Olympic Park. It was a fascinating visit, and prompted many thoughts on the Olympic Games:
In terms of scale and complexity, this was – unambiguously – the largest and most complex operation undertaken by the British police service for a generation. Assistant commissioner Chris Allison, the National Olympic Security Co-ordinator, must have had more than a few sleepless nights, but the fact is that through sound planning, attention to detail and hard work the service was able to field the full range of skills and expertise required to deliver across all necessary areas of policing.
What was notable was the extent to which all forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland worked so well together to deliver a successful policing operation embracing progress of the Olympic Torch Relay and the delivery of a safe and secure Games across all venues.
Management of risk
The management of risk is a key feature of day-to-day policing. We are comfortable with it and regularly prioritise our use of resources against our professional assessment of the threat and associated risks. In respect of the Games, it was interesting to see the manner in which a range of agencies, Government departments and ministers were required to reach an agreement as to the nature of the risks confronting the Olympics and the appropriate response required.
Things could change quite significantly. For example, the widespread disorder of August 2011 meant the original assessment that the risk of serious public disorder was low had to be revisited. In consequence, significant additional PSU resources were required at a relatively late stage.
Once again, the service rose to the challenge and necessary arrangements were made.
The start of the Olympic Torch Relay came as something of a relief. As one senior officer put it: “In the planning phase you’re concerned with what might happen. Once the Torch Relay was underway, we could concentrate instead on what was actually happening. In many respects that’s more straightforward.”
Flexibility and resilience issues
As is so often the case in policing, the ability to deal with the unexpected is key to success and, for all our planning, we had not anticipated the failure of G4S to deliver on its commitment to provide venue security.
The manner in which the police service and colleagues in the military rose to the challenge was, in my opinion, exemplary. Having oversight of PNICC, I saw the daily updates indicating the scale of the additional demand that fell on venue forces at very short notice. In many cases this was very significant.
While G4S and the Home Office have, quite rightly, agreed that forces will be refunded for this additional demand, the manner in which those forces hosting venues dealt with the situation reflected great credit on them.
Of course, it did not go unnoticed in the national media that the police and the military were stepping up to fill the gap left by the private sector. I anticipate that the wider reverberations will run on for a long time yet to come.
Timely lessons on interoperability
In many respects, the demands of the Olympic Games came at a most opportune time for the police service. At an early stage, it was realised that, in order to deliver such a complex policing operation, we required a much better understanding of what skills and capabilities the service had overall and where it was located.
For example, we had never previously needed to know in detail just how many mounted officers, close protection officers, police search advisors and so on that we had nationally.
At an early stage, Chris Allison and I agreed to base the resource planning for the Games on a tried-and-tested model – PNICC. Rather than creating a new unit, we agreed to enhance the small PNICC team with additional staff for the purposes of the Olympic Games.
As the months progressed, a series of resource tests – based on our understanding of the Games demand – allowed us to gradually build up a comprehensive national picture of what assets individual forces had, to arrive at a common set of definitions of what skills such specialists required and, therefore, to identify where the resources for the London 2012 Games would be found.
That knowledge is a crucial legacy from the Olympics. As we enter a new era of strategic policing requirements and continued reductions to police resources as a consequence of the ongoing budgets cuts, accurate knowledge of overall police capabilities will be of importance in allowing chief officers to manage risk confidently (and to know where specialist help will come from when required).
Additionally, the cross-border nature of the Olympic Torch Relay operation and collaborative approach developed by neighbouring forces – which saw joint teams supporting the Metropolitan Police Service Torch Security Team moving freely across force boundaries under a unified command structure – provided valuable experience in joint working for the future.
Public appreciation of the police service
One of the most encouraging lessons to come out of the Games was the extent to which the British public appreciated the style and professionalism of both the police service and its military colleagues in ensuring a safe and secure event.
I cannot be the only chief constable who has received a range of favourable letters, e-mails and messages via social media congratulating my officers on their conduct and behaviour while deployed at the Olympics.
It was also heartening to receive positive feedback from the officers themselves who had been impressed by the manner in which their time in London had been organised and supported by our Met colleagues.
I think that everyone was pleasantly surprised at just how well the Olympics went. We now have the Paralympic Games to deliver, but I’m confident that we have set a high standard which will be maintained.
In the very widest sense, Team GB has already delivered a fantastic Games which will be talked about and remembered for years to come.
While the British police service is going through testing times, it’s hugely gratifying to know that by working together we were able to contribute to the overall success of the 2012 Games. British policing to the Gold standard.
Tim Hollis is chief constable of Humberside Police, vice-president of ACPO (with oversight of the Police National Information Co-ordination Centre) and vice chairman of ACPO’s Olympics business area
This blog appears on the ACPO website
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