This coming summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to be the greatest sporting event in the history of Great Britain. They also demand the biggest peacetime security operation ever realised on home shores.
You’ve probably seen some of the statistics around this event already, but they’re well worth reiterating for sense of scale. 10,500 Olympic athletes from 205 national Olympic Committees and 4,200 Paralympic athletes from 170 national Paralympic Committees are paying us a visit.
The busiest competition day will attract no less than 800,000 spectators to the various Olympic events. Those physical viewers are to be supplemented by a global TV audience totalling an estimated four billion.
Need for a safe and secure games
Speaking at yesterday’s Olympic and Paralympic Security Conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Home Secretary Theresa May declared the Government and her law enforcement portfolio “ready to take on the challenge of delivering a safe and secure games”.
Planning for the Games began prior to the bid being won in 2005 and has been going on ever since. In tandem with delivering a safe and secure sporting spectacle there has to be a strict adherence to the basic Olympic values and ethos. As has been said before, it’s a sporting event with a layer of security rather than the other way round.
“This means we need a security approach that’s robust but seamless,” asserted May. “Visible but not intrusive, tough but intelligent… and that’s what we will deliver.”
As you would fully expect at this juncture, May asserted that Games security plans are “well-developed” and the overall security operation is on track. “I know the International Olympic Committee shares that judgement,” said May as if to embellish that particular point.
Like all western nations, the UK faces a number of ongoing threats to its national security. The Home Secretary is adamant that all have been taken into account at the planning stage.
“We know we face a real and enduring threat from terrorism and we know that the Games as an iconic event will represent a target for terrorist groups,” explained May. “Our Olympic security plans have been developed against an assumption that the terrorist threat level at the time of the games will be ‘Severe’.”
Given that the nature of the terrorist threat has developed and evolved over the past few years, the Government’s security plans compliment and draw on the capabilities and expertise developed through counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST.
Importantly, though, May was keen to point out that: “We have specifically designed-in the ability to be flexible and we have kept everything under regular review. That flexibility will be crucial at Games time. It will allow us to respond rapidly and effectively to any unforeseen developments.”
The police: lead agency in charge of security
The police will be the lead agency in charge of Olympic security. As the Home Secretary quite correctly stated: “They know how to keep the streets of Britain safe better than anyone else.” That said, the overall approach to security is very much focused on a joint effort.
“The police will be working with their colleagues from LOCOG – the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games – the fire and ambulance service and the private security industry to deliver a safe and secure games,” outlined the Cabinet minister.
It’s apparent that the police service will be drawing on the important capabilities that the military can provide. Indeed, an inter-departmental security group – chaired by Theresa May, in fact – has been established to ensure that all of the different organisations involved are “working seamlessly together” and that their plans are best aligned.
There are a little over six months to go until the official Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games, which takes place in Stratford, east London on 27 July, but what many will not realise is that the overarching security operation doesn’t start there.
Rather, it begins with the Olympic torch relay, starting at Lands End in Cornwall on 19 May, with a dedicated team of police officers trained and ready to run alongside the torch for the entire 70 days it’s ‘out on the road’ for pre-event publicity, etc.
The torch will be conveyed by 8,000 different bearers who will carry it through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages across the UK. Proof positive that this is a nationwide event and not just London-centric.
“Most events will take place in the newly-constructed Olympic Park, which is one of the largest urban parks created in Europe for 150 years,” outlined May. “If you’ve visited the Olympic Park, as I have several times, you will know just how impressive it is. However, the Games are not just about the Olympic Park. They’re not just about London, either. The Games are for the whole of Britain.”
Olympic football matches, for example, will be taking place in Coventry, Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle and at Wembley Stadium.
“The sheer size and scale of the Games shows how complex managing security is,” explained the Home Secretary. “It’s an unprecedented challenge, but we start from a position of strength.”
Significant investment in security
The UK’s police service, of course, is both admired and emulated around the world. Our counter-terrorism strategy is similarly studied and copied. Put simply, our security and intelligence agencies are recognised as being among the best in the business (and with good reason).
The Home Secretary opined: “Our track record of hosting major events – from state visits and music festivals through to Premier league football matches and Royal Weddings is unparalleled – in fact, it’s one of the reasons we won the bid.”
Building on that excellent existing capacity, the authorities have duly made specific security investments to respond to the similarly specific security challenges posed by the Olympic Games.
“Over 95% of construction at the Olympic Park has now been completed on time and on budget,” urged May. “That includes the security side. High levels of protective security have been put in place at the Olympic Park, and security has been designed and built into the venues, making them safer both at Games time and when they’re used after the Olympics.”
In addition, there has been an upgrade and enhancement of the capability of police Control Rooms at both Lambeth and Hendon. The capacity of the airwave emergency services radio system has also been expanded.
On top of that, the Olympic Clearing House facility is now open for business. The Home Secretary paid it a visit last week. “In that excellent facility,” said May, “I saw the screening and background checking process that will be used to validate more than 380,000 applicants for accreditation to the Games.”
Additional to these important investments, the Government has also opened two new security and intelligence co-ordination facilities. The police-led multi-agency national Olympic Co-ordination Centre is now up and running under the leadership of Metropolitan Police Service assistant commissioner Chris Allison. It’s designed to foster a national overview of how the Olympic security operation is working on the ground.
“We have also put in place a specific intelligence capability in advance of the Games,” stressed May, “to allow us to identify and disrupt threats.
The Olympic Co-ordination Centre is now producing and disseminating national Olympic threat assessments on areas like crime and terrorism for use by the police, the intelligence agencies and by security liaison officers from the different countries attending the Games.
Again, May was swift to point out that there will be other issues to face during the Games, among them public disorder and serious organised crime.
Cyber security: combating the ‘hacktivists’
A strong possibility is the threat from cyber crime and cyber security.
May asserted that the authorities are “aware” of the threat from so-called ‘hacktivist’ groups. Such groups may attempt to target the Games and might also determine to attempt attacks on the websites of high-profile sponsors associated with the Olympics.
“We already have our own robust plans in place to deal with a cyber attack against Games systems,” stated the Home Secretary, “and we’re now working with industry to strengthen its ability to defend itself from cyber attacks. The police are also working against cyber criminals, with a dedicated police operation targeting those who would seek to illegally profit from the Games.”
That particular operation has already realised nearly 100 arrests of organised criminals and work to that effect is duly continuing behind the scenes.
Interestingly, the Government is actively helping the police and LOCOG to deal with other emerging threats that have confronted the Home Office in recent months, among them encampment protests.
Three aspects to protests
According to May, going forward the Government’s approach to tackling such protests will based on three aspects:
strict security and screening measures to help stop the necessary equipment needed for protests from being brought into Olympic venues
encouraging an immediate response from LOCOG to any encampment that does break defences in place
rapid follow-up action by the police in support of LOCOG and using all available powers to remove encampments and equipment
“I have explained this new policy to LOCOG as the event hosts for the Olympics,” explained May. “Its success will depend on LOCOG adding tents and related equipment to the list of items prohibited from being brought into Games venues. I trust they will now do so.”
May has also stressed to the police service that they must act swiftly in support of LOCOG should they receive a complaint.
Alongside preparing plans, designing systems, building structures and training people must ensure those plans are sound, that systems work, that buildings are suitable and that everyone with a role knows precisely what they are doing during Games time.
Every police force’s individual operational plans have now been independently scrutinised by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary and assessed through a series of peer reviews.
“We have a comprehensive testing and exercising programme to ensure that absolutely everything runs smoothly come Games time,” said May. Last week, officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Marine Policing Unit and the Royal Marines carried out joint exercises on the Thames.”
Many of you will have read about that in the national news. May continued: “Speedboats, helicopters and armed officers operating on London’s iconic waterway are a very visible example of the Olympic exercise programme.”
Behind the scenes, the testing and exercise programme is said to be even more impressive. “It ranges from simulated incidents to ‘live play’ with police officers and other emergency services with the blue lights on and sirens blaring, as they would during a real incident,” outlined the Home Secretary.
Several large exercises have already taken place involving thousands of participants acting in the role they would actually play during the Games. These exercises test all aspects of planning, including resilience and decision-making.
“All of these exercises are aimed at testing our plans and learning the lessons,” said May. “Where things go well we will build on that success. Where things go wrong, we will look to correct the mistakes. We will develop and improve.”
Keeping a watchful eye on 36 venues
Olympic Games security will involve hundreds of thousands of police officer deployments across the country at 36 competition venues. Alongside those officers will be 23,700 LOCOG venue security personnel. The armed forces will also be on standby to support the civilian authorities should they need it. In particular, they will provide certain specialised capabilities such as bomb disposal, maritime support and enhanced air security over London.
The Home Secretary ventured: “The overall security operation will be active 24 hours a day, seven days a week from before the torch relay enters London in July right through to after the Paralympic Games’ closing ceremony in September.”
It’s because of this “unprecedented challenge” that the Government and law enforcement authorities have undertaken such thorough planning, have made such significant investments and will carry out such extensive testing and exercising.
In conclusion, May stated: “We must now grasp the opportunity that 2012 represents to show the whole world all that is great about Great Britain. We will rise to the challenge.”