Met police to bring in thousands of extra officers to cope with Olympics

Of the 12,000 officers deployed in the capital for the Games next year, 2,400 could be from outside London The Metropolitan police have outlined plans to deploy up to 12,000 officers a day during next year’s Olympic Games, with up to 20% of them drawn from outside London. Forces up and down the country will contribute to filling posts during the Games, particularly in specialist roles requiring protection officers, firearms officers and mounted officers. “They are the ones we need in large numbers who will be brought in to assist with the Games,” said Met assistant commissioner Chris Allison, the Olympic security co-ordinator. Forces providing officers will be reimbursed so they can fill the shifts with replacements. The home secretary, Theresa May, outlined a series of exercises designed to test the ability of the various agencies involved in security to work together. They will include a major “live” exercise on the streets of London next spring. “We will be against a severe threat level but we are used to delivering major events against that threat level,” said Allison. “We recognise the terrorist threat could come from anywhere. We have looked at the various attack methodologies the terrorists have used in the past and we’ve used that to inform the plans, but we’re still watching. We can’t rest on our laurels.” He said that besides watching for the threat of terrorism, other priorities included policing protests and combating serious and organised crime, ticket touts and counterfeit tickets. A total of £757m of public money is being spent on security. About £475m will be spent on policing the Games while the remainder will be spent by the London organising committee to provide security at the venues, through G4S security. Allison said local authorities, the London mayor and sponsors were discussing the nature of security at the so-called “live sites” and other parallel events. “We are working closely with the Greater London Authority and local authorities across the country on the issue of parallel events,” he said. “It’s quite clear that if we have a parallel event on that doesn’t have the required level of security, then the terrorists who can’t get into a major venue will potentially go to the other places.” Ticketholders will face airport-style security before being allowed into venues, with queuing taking between 15 and 20 minutes during peak times, he said. Allison has talked about drawing on certain niche Royal Navy skills to help police the city’s waterways and the sailing venue in Weymouth. Armed police would be deployed in certain circumstances, he said, but most of the 12,000 officers would be unarmed. Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said: “I want to stress that the summer of 2012, for the Metropolitan police and indeed the nation and the government, isn’t just about the Games … the challenge for the Met in particular is to continue to run policing services here in London. And we are going to do that.” Olympic Games 2012 Police Metropolitan police London Theresa May Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.