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Security for 2012 Games not moving fast enough
- 02 July 2009
- Richard Bryan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that the whole structure needed to be changed to give greater priority to security issues.
Mr Bryan, director of operations in the Met’s Olympic Security Directorate, said that he was not criticising the Olympic Board, but what he called the “governance structures” surrounding it.
Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers’ conference in Manchester, he said: “The people who are involved in the Games are not privy to the environment that we are operating in. Decision-making is too slow and too convoluted. We need a primary voice on security within the Olympic Board.”
Although a huge amount of security planning for the event has already taken place, he said: “At the moment we do not think it is fit for purpose, and on resilience issues we do not think that it is properly engaged.”
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner should sit alongside the Home Secretary at the top of the decision-making network to ensure security is a key priority, Mr Bryan added.
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games refused to comment, saying: “The Metropolitan Police is saying the comments were taken out of context.”
Scotland Yard issued a statement later that said that Mr Bryan “is fully supportive of the Olympic Board, and he and the MPS are totally behind what it is trying to achieve”.
Speaking in a workshop session at the conference, Mr Bryan said: “With over five years till the Games we are at an early stage in our planning and now is the time to address these issues without them impacting upon the success of the Games.”
Assistant Commissioner Tar-ique Ghaffur revealed at the Acpo conference that officials are considering drawing up a new Act of Parliament to govern security at the Games.
The Met has gathered a huge amount of detail on the areas surrounding London Olympic venues, including aerial photographs, so that police cordons and evacuation routes can be drawn up.