Olympics

Head: Chris Allison, Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service

The ACPO Olympics business area leads the development of capacity, capability and coordination and to facilitate operational delivery of the policing operation in support of the Olympic Safety and Security Programme. It is led by Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, who is also the National Olympic Security Coordinator (NOSC).

The London 2012 Games were a fantastic celebration of sport. Together with our partners, we kept them safe and secure in what was our largest ever pre-planned operation, showcasing the very best of British policing to the world.

The Games were delivered without major incident and initial assessments indicate that overall crime levels in venue force areas fell slightly during the Games period.

Twelve forces policed Games venues, keeping them safe while continuing to deliver core policing. The Met Police kept the capital safe across a summer like no other, policing the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Torch Relays, the Games themselves, Notting Hill Carnival and numerous parallel events. British Transport Police secured the national rail network during its busiest period ever.

Joint working and integration across all our partners was essential to our success. Our close relationship with the organising committee, LOCOG, across Government, the military and with local partners enabled us to deliver a consistent and proportionate security operation, ensuring that the focus remained on the sport.

Our model of national coordination, led by AC Chris Allison as the National Olympic Security Coordinator (NOSC), operating from the National Olympic Coordination Centre (NOCC) in New Scotland Yard, ensured that individual police forces and agencies delivered independent local operations, but with consistency and central coordination.

The Olympic Torch Relay was kept safe and secure by local officers from every force and the Met Police Torch Security Team as it travelled the entire UK and Republic of Ireland. Once again, the Police Service demonstrated its ability to work together across boundaries and borders. The Relay united local communities and built enthusiasm ahead of the Games. The police played a central role in creating the amazing atmosphere; working alongside the public to ensure the Torch Relay went ahead safely and without major incident.

At venues across the country, the Police Service, alongside the military, responded rapidly to the challenge posed by the G4S security guard shortfalls. Flexible contingency plans were quickly implemented to ensure that security was not compromised and that the Games schedules were met.

Our approach to the Games was intelligence-led and risk-based. We planned to the 'severe' level of threat to ensure that we had the maximum flexibility and resilience to respond to any threat or contingency.

The Games required the largest ever pre-planned mobilisation of resources. Officers were provided under mutual aid arrangements from 52 police forces, including those in Scotland and specialist forces such as the MOD Police.

ACPO Police National Information and Coordination Centre, together with its equivalent in Scotland, S-PICC, successfully coordinated the deployment of up to 14,500 officers nationally on the busiest day of the Olympic Games and 7,500 during the Paralympics.

Meeting the demands of the Games, while continuing to deliver business-as-usual policing to our communities, demonstrated that the British police service has the capacity and capability to mobilise large numbers of officers to support major operations. We met the huge logistical challenge in moving, accommodating, feeding and briefing thousands of officers, putting in place the right officers in the right place at the right time.

Keeping the Games safe and secure was delivered well within the overall £600m overall funding envelope and below the £475m Home Office target. National and local police planning sought efficiency and the best value for money while not compromising on security.