Security at London 2012 Olympics

19 June 2008 by Rod McLaren

It has been months since we posted – very poor form, but there is material on new products and projects coming soon. In the meantime…

We’re going to be watching security with interest in the run-up to the Olympics in four years. David Ross (Carphone co-founder) was recently appointed by Boris Johnson to review progress on the 2012 Olympics. His first report, 18 June (pdf), has this on security:

The security plans are at a very early stage and significantly behind the rest of the planning. It is absolutely vital that significant progress is made quickly on security planning so that necessary facilities are identified early enough to be provided cost effectively. As was seen with Wembley, there will be significant cost implications if security considerations have to be built in to the Olympic facilities/logistics at a late stage. It is also difficult to have confidence in current cost estimates in the absence of a full, costed security plan. Failure to catch up and complete this work satisfactorily will have serious implications for Londoners as they will be the people most exposed to disruption and security risks. I recommend you should ensure you have regular direct reporting on progress from those responsible for delivery in this critical area of the project.

And Boris responds: “it is vital for us to catch up if we are not to have cost increases and disruption and I will be discussing this urgently with ministers and with the Commissioner.”

Which should add pressure on the many other policing organisations (and a few private security firms) involved to deliver well on security.

But perhaps the Met Police wouldn’t agree with Ross’s assessment of preparedness. Torch lessons for 2012 Olympic security (BBC, Apr 2008) gives a pretty good public overview of the current security programme:

As head of the Olympic security directorate, [Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur] has a staff of 7,000 and will oversee a £600m security operation covering 60 days around the games.”

For comparison, in 2006 The Guardian reported that the security budget was initially drafted at £220m.

[...] ‘We are installing a technological footprint across London as our first line of security. We cannot police the games without an extensive level of technology. This will be our first level of policing.’

Technology footprint is going to mean extensive cctv coverage, smart ticketing, plus automatic id-recognition for people and vehicles.

[...] ‘The second line of security is police officers and private security firms. The third level is command and control, to deal swiftly with any incidents. We will move in quickly and shut any incidents down – a swift reaction is imperative.’

Interoperation between police forces and private security firms will be an interesting and difficult challenge – mixed sets of technology are common across police forces (often within individual police forces), let alone between the public and private sectors. We’re going to try do our bit in our projects by being friendly to other systems, data formats and APIs.

Disclosure: Mobbu develops applications and products in the security and policing sector.

1. Update on budget:

   There is a specific figure of £838m for security in the Budget but no overall security master plan and security planning is “significantly behind” the rest of the plans.

   And:

   the problem has been the fight over [who should pay for] the Met Police’s demand [to] completely overhaul their country wide security system.

   However this has been eclipsed in recent days by the racial discrimination allegations that Tarique Ghaffur is said to be preparing against Ian Blair and the Home Office.

   [Ghaffur] alleges that Moira Wallace, director of police and counter-terrorism at the Home Office, conspired with Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, to strip him of his responsibilities and sideline him:

   His dossier includes correspondence between Wallace, Blair and Len Duvall, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Met’s governing body, in which they discuss Ghaffur. [...] decision to take legal action was triggered by an explosive e-mail from Wallace that in effect sacked him as Olympics security chief. Sent to more than a dozen senior Met officers in March, it announced that Robert Raine, a senior Home Office colleague, would be taking charge of Olympic security, coordinating the work of 24 government agencies and police.

   
   — Rod McLaren    3 July 2008, 17:14    #

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