MPS Olympic Programme update

Report: 5
Date: 7 June 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Operations on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines the current progress of the MPS Olympic Policing Programme.

A. Recommendations

That Members receive and comment of the update report on the MPS Olympic Policing Programme.

B. Supporting information

1. On 26 September 2006 the MPS provided the Full Authority with a report detailing the MPS approach to the planning of policing and security for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The Full Authority whilst supporting the approach, requested that regular update reports are provided to the MPA Co-ordination of Policing Committee.

2. Since this meeting, the MPS has additionally provided two further reports to the MPA:

• How the MPS will deliver equality and diversity to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board on 8 March 2007, and
• Corporate Volunteer Programme to the Full Authority on 26 April 2007.

3. An update report was provided to the Co-ordination and Policing Committee on 2 February 2007 where the following areas were covered:

• The main objectives in policing the Olympic Games.
• The key issues and challenges for the MPS.
• The primary approaches to delivering the objectives.
• How the MPS is organising itself for delivery.
• The planning and governance arrangements.
• The bodies/partners that the MPS is working with.
• Liaison with other police forces / security organisations.

Generally, there have been no further major developments in these areas other than:

4. The Olympic Security governance was agreed by the Home Secretary at the Defence and Overseas Policy Sub-Committee on Protective Security and Resilience (DOP(IT)(PSR) on 18 April 2007.

5. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Bryan has been appointed to lead full time on delivering the Olympic Security Programme in support of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, the Olympic Security Co-ordinator.

6. A fundamental review of the Olympic Security Programme and the structure of the Olympic Security Directorate (OSD) has taken place to ensure that both are fit for purpose. As a result, the OSD has been restructured around the 5 key themes of the Security Approach:

• Physical security.
• People security.
• Capacity and capability building.
• Operational readiness, including resilience, and
• Legacy.

7. Defined roles, responsibilities and accountability within the OSD have also been determined. This has assisted greatly in successfully integrating other partner agencies into the OSD, and in determining where within the Olympic Security Programme each agency must participate in order to deliver a single national security plan. It is anticipated that a similar review of the programme and of the OSD will take place annually in order to ensure that developments within the Olympic planning are catered for and that both remain fit for purpose over the forthcoming five years.

8. The structure of the Olympic Security Programme has not changed significantly. The review of the programme highlighted the need to ensure that every aspect of security, safety and resilience are catered for. As a result, an additional work-stream has been introduced into the programme entitled Sustaining Territorial Policing. This work-stream will be responsible for delivery of the following three areas impacted by London 2012:

• Operational ‘business as usual’ across all London boroughs.
• Criminal justice issues, and
• Volume crime and performance.

9. Whilst the previous programme structure catered for these areas within other strands, defining them into a separate work-stream provides these critical aspects of operational delivery with the prominence that they require and ensures that the needs of Territorial Policing (TP) are adequately and rightly addressed within the entire planning for the Games.

10. The Olympic Security Programme is due to complete its ‘Define and Initiate’ stage in September 2007. At this point the programme will be subject to a further review and a ‘health check’.

11. Each of the programme strands has now defined their individual scope of work into a clear project structure and is now currently working on identifying:

• Timelines.
• Milestones.
• Action plans.
• Benefits plans.
• Dependencies.

12. At this time there are 110 individual MPS projects initiated within the Olympic Security Programme delivering on work to provide a holistic security and policing operation to London 2012.

Significant achievements and areas of work since February

Communication and consultation

13. The MPS has continued to develop the strategic Security Approach for the Games.

14. Following initial consultation with:

• Key stakeholders, including other Olympic Delivery partners,
• Other police forces,
• Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO),
• Government,
• The Mayor of London, and
• Other key partners, including the business community

Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur and the OSD staff have continued with the consultation process by delivering presentations on the ‘approach’ to the London Boroughs and other major stakeholders. Audiences have comprised of:

• BOCU Senior Management Team
• Chief Executives of local authorities
• Local councillors
• Crime and disorder partnership members
• Emergency planning officers from the local authorities
• Local Chief Fire officers
• Members of local Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs), and
• Members of the local community

15. In addition to the five security-planning themes, the presentations have also included specific areas on:

• Potential impact upon London Boroughs, both in the build up to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games
• The requirement of the Security programme to ensure that borough-policing requirements are catered for during the event planning at the very outset
• The means of feeding back emerging borough issues directly to the OSD.

16. 83 separate presentations have been provided within the past three-month period and to date 29 BOCUs have been included in the consultation process. The outstanding BOCU presentations are planned.

17. The presentations and the security approach have been very well received across London and have received widespread support. Issues arising from the visits have already been fed back into the Olympic Security programme for attention. The recipient audiences were also appreciative of the transparency being given to the current security planning and approach.

Projected costs

18. The OSD has recently completed a review of Olympic related policing security costs for the next Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period – 2008/09 - 2010/11. These costs are currently with Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) for review.

19. In the coming weeks a concept of operations will be developed, which will demonstrate the validity of the proposed security programme in the light of anticipated events (the build programme), intelligence and likely scenarios. This concept of operations will assist in testing the costs and developing the relationship between opportunity and additional costs. Once this work and the HMIC review are complete, costs will be more robust and further detail can be shared with members at this time.

20. The MPS has agreed to host a workshop for all OSD partners to agree a process for establishing total security costs and it is intended that an estimate of total security costs for the Games will be produced by September 2007. Clearly, as the Games are still five years away, costs will continue to be estimates.

21. On 15 March 2007, the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, announced a budget of £600m for wider security; this is on top of the Olympic Delivery Authority budget for security. It was made clear in the announcement that this figure would be subject to continued oversight and scrutiny in the coming months and years. The results of the proposed workshop on total security costs mentioned above will enable the OSD to engage further with government and other agencies around this figure. It will also assist in dealing with some additional outstanding issues such as:

• Transparency of the security budget.
• Ownership of the security budget, and
• Accountability of decision making, with regard to the ‘end-to-end’ security process.

Foundation document

22. Each of the main Olympic Delivery partners (OSD, ODA and LOCOG) has produced their own Foundation or Policy document within this period. These documents are all currently subject to consultation amongst the agencies involved in delivering London 2012 and will be made available following this process. The OSD documentation includes guidance and information on the following areas:

• Terms of reference for the OSD
• OSD security objectives
• Strategic security planning
• Governance arrangements
• Role of the security co-ordinator
• Integration with the Olympic delivery partners
• OSD key processes and structures
• Working with government
• People and diversity
• OSD working practice, environment and expectations

Scenario testing and workshops

23. The OSD has developed a scenario and exercise-testing programme, designed to test, understand and quality assures the systems, processes and products that the OSD is planning, developing or implementing. Already a well-developed programme of Counter Terrorism exercises is planned for the forthcoming five-year period and other areas of the programme are currently being devised and developed.

24. In this current period, significant workshops and scenario tests have taken place to examine the following areas:

• Criminal justice, which was attended by the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith.
• Communications.
• Counter terrorism.
• Major events.
• Emergency preparedness.
• Sporting venues.
• People and resourcing.
• Aviation security.
• Airwave capability.
• Public order.

25. The learning derived from these important events is being developed into standard operational procedures (SOPs) and have been tasked into the relevant area of the Security programme for development and implementation.

26. Within the next six months significant scenario workshops and table top exercises are planned for the following areas:

• Transport, involving all agencies responsible for the delivery of the transport infrastructure for the Games in 2012.
• Vacant possessions.
• Critical incident response within the construction site, including health and safety investigations, and
• Marine security.

Organisational learning

27. The OSD and its partners are still engaged in deriving organisational learning from previous Olympic and Paralympic Games, and other significant sporting events in order to ensure that all aspects are catered for within the policing and security programme.

28. The OSD has hosted delegations from Australia, China and Spain during this period where valuable experience from people involved in planning previous or forthcoming Games has been obtained. The OSD is due to host a further delegation from Beijing in May 2007.

29. In April 2007, senior staff from the OSD were involved in high level relationship building with both the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games (BOCOG) and the Chinese law enforcement agencies delivering security to their Games.

30. In March 2007, staff from the OSD’s Intelligence Unit engaged with the organisers and law enforcement agencies involved in the Cricket World Cup within the Caribbean. Valuable learning on the international dimension of delivering intelligence to major sporting events and potential risks in delivering a multi-national intelligence function is now informing the development of the Olympic Intelligence Centre (OIC).

31. In June 2007, staff from the OSD will be attending Athens, Greece in order to augment further learning from the 2004 Games. This is in addition to that already obtained from MPS staff that assisted the Greek nation in both the planning and delivery of their event. The trip will focus on the following areas:

• Legacy.
• Transport network and infrastructure.
• Operational readiness.
• Crime trends,
• Athlete and participant security

32. In addition to these events, the OSD has also increased its knowledge through its’ staff participating in the planning and operational delivery of significant events in London including the London Marathon, Wimbledon Tennis, the Football Association Cup Final at the new Wembley stadium, and the Tour de France.

Town planning consultation

33. As mentioned in previous MPA reports, the MPS has embedded staff within both the ODA and LOCOG in order to assist in Town Planning matters and support increased liaison and communication between all parties.

34. The staff embedded within the ODA also have specific responsibility for ensuring that the OSD is engaged in the design of the Olympic Park and Village from the very outset and that security is built in and crime designed out of all the Park venues. In addition, there is a focus to minimise, where possible, the subsequent changes that are inevitable as the Park and Village more towards ‘operational Games mode’, and to maxmise legacy benefits to the MPA post Games.

35. Since February 2007, the OSD has focussed on two key areas of the ODA Planning and Town Planning Process, namely:

• The Olympic Transport Master-plan, and
• The Two Stage Outline Planning Application for the Olympic Park and Village.

36. Both consultations required intensive effort within very short timescales to produce a holistic security response to each document. The outline planning application alone ran to approximately 15,000 pages and providing necessary responses has involved representatives from OSD and numerous other MPS teams. This is in addition to the responses submitted by the MPA. Further responses will be submitted in response to the second stage of the application process and OSD will continue to monitor closely the subsequent planning process. The ODA advise that a decision is expected as to whether or not consent will be granted to the outline planning application in August 2007.

37. The OSD will continue to liaise closely with the ODA in regard to the subsequent detailed planning application that will be made. It is expected that the ODA/LDA Legacy Master-plan will also be published shortly, highlighting proposed ODA/LDA ‘Development Platforms’. OSD will ensure suitable consideration is given to this on behalf of the MPA and MPS.

Command and control

38. Significant progress has been made in planning the national response to Command and Control, and the associated command structure (Gold, Silver and Bronze) that will need to be implemented to deliver both the Olympic events and the wider ‘business as normal’. Work continues to develop the structures required to link this critical area of operational business to the Olympic intelligence function and the overall strategic co-ordination requirements.

Public Private Partnership

39. Initial exploratory work has taken place between the MPS and the Private Security Industry scoping the potential public private partnership working that the Games could lend itself to. This is a new area of business for the MPS and the review is examining the potential roles that the security industry could participate in alongside police throughout the ‘end-to-end’ security processes of the Games. This work will be developed within the next six months and will be addressed through a dedicated working party.

Forthcoming activity, events or products

40. Following the review of the OSD structure and implementation of its findings, the OSD is now delivering the programme around three key functional areas:

• Operational delivery.
• Enabling.
• Planning.

41. The focus of work over the period 2007/8 will predominantly focus on planning, but there are areas of enabling and day-to-day operational delivery that requires to be addressed at the same time.

Operational delivery

42. Over the next few months, the OSD will need to focus on the area of the Olympic Park in Stratford as the ODA takes occupation of the Olympic Park site. From July 2007 businesses and residents currently occupying the site will be required to move, some through the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders and the site will be fenced off. Once unoccupied, the demolition and clearance of the site will proceed.

43. The Olympic site could be the focus for potential public order problems or environmental protest during these phases, and the MPS and its’ partners need to be prepared to deal with any consequences or potential action. At this time there is very little intelligence indicating that such action or protest is likely to take place. This is subject to continual monitoring.

44. The OSD/MPS is working very closely with the ODA in developing the operational plans for this significant milestone activity and in working with the communities affected by the action.

45. A new Safer Neighbourhood Team will be established in July 2007 dedicated to the area of the Olympic Park. This team will be responsible for:

• Engagement with existing communities impacted by the Olympic Park, including involvement in existing community facilities and policing teams.
• Liaison with existing Safer Neighbourhood Teams in wards surrounding the Olympic Park.
• Liaison with private security employed within the Olympic Park.
• Policing the construction workers and employers within the Olympic Park as a distinct community.
• Participation and involvement in joined-up community engagement activity with other Olympic delivery partners, e.g. with LOCOG. This may give opportunities to a number of people living in the different communities in London who have other first or second languages than English.

46. The OSD is also engaged in the daily gathering and dissemination of intelligence to support the policing operation and is engaged in both reactive and proactive Olympic related crime investigations. One such potential crime area, which is well developed, is the planned response to potential fraud and economic crime associated with London 2012. The Serious Crime Directorate (SCD) is leading this proactive response.

47. As mentioned above, a further focus of activity of the OSD over the forthcoming months is the delivery of the scenario and exercise-testing programme to support and inform the security programme.

Enabling

48. This important function deals with the ongoing areas of:

• Communications.
• Programme governance.
• Financial planning.

49. It is planned that the official launch of the OSD will take place in November 2007 along with accompanying literature, intranet site and Internet site.

50. Within finance, the focus for the MPS over the next six months is to initially secure funding for 2008/09 to enable capacity building and ensure critical infrastructure can be put in place. Also, as mentioned above, the MPS has agreed to host a workshop for all OSD partners to agree a process for establishing total security costs and it is intended that an estimate of total security costs for the Games will be produced by September 2007.

Planning

51. The key area of work that is the current priority of the OSD is to produce the Concept of Operations. This is a key document required by:

• International Olympic Committee (IOC) to inform them how security will be delivered to the London 2012 Games.
• HMIC, in support of the current CSR costing exercise, and
• All OSD agencies as the definitive framework upon which the security operation will be delivered.

52. The Concept of Operations will detail the following areas:

• The roles and responsibilities across the Olympic Delivery partners.
• The management of these roles and responsibilities.
• The funding arrangements within these structures.
• The partnership approach to delivery.
• The leadership of the ‘end-to-end’ security processes for the Games.

53. It is envisaged that this key document will lead to individual memorandum of understanding between the main Olympic Delivery partners.

54. In addition to the Concept of Operations it is expected that other priority projects will come to fruition within the next six months. These include proposals and agreement on:

• The creation of an Olympic Intelligence Centre (OIC).
• The creation of a Strategic Co-ordination Centre (SCC).
• The national command and control systems for the Games.
• The national command structure.
• Potential legislation changes required to deliver a safe and securing Games.
• Planning of the Beijing Torch Relay policing operation for when it arrives in the UK in April 2008.

Other significant issues

Potential impact on the MPS Estate

55. The MPS Property Services Directorate (PSD) lead on the Buildings and Facilities strand of the Olympic Security programme and have responsibility for delivering solutions to support the OSD’s operational requirements. Aside from those events taking place with the Olympic Village and Park at Stratford, it is intended that the MPA’s pan-London facilities that are operational in 2012 will be utilised to support other events that will be held across London.

56. As previously reported, the MPS and the other emergency services have submitted accommodation requirements to the ODA/LOCOG for buildings and infrastructure requirements within the Olympic Park and Village. These requirements were delivered in relation to the ODA’s submission of the outline planning application. The MPS requirements are still under discussion and are subject to continual review. At this time, the MPS is in dialogue with the ODA and LOCOG in regard to need for the ODA/LOCOG to make suitable provision to support operational policing requirements for the Olympic Park and Village. Further discussions are planned with ODA/LDA in regard to legacy issues. Part of this discussion is reliant on LOCOG’s operational proposals, which are, as yet, unconfirmed. The outcome of OSD’s requirements will determine the extent of accommodation that the MPS will actually require.

57. In submitting requirements to the ODA/LOCOG, the MPS has considered legacy issues that it may require to police the area of the Olympic Park post 2012. The MPS and MPA position, in regard to the formal responses to the Town Planning process have re-iterated operational needs.

58. As mentioned above (paragraph 42), it is anticipated that a decision will be made within the next six months on the proposed development of the Olympic Intelligence Cell (OIC) and Strategic Co-ordination Centre (SCC). As a result, potential options with regard to accommodating both centres is currently being scoped and options are being identified. It is possible that both critical structures may be accommodated within existing MPS estate or may be subject to additional new builds. Proposals will be presented to MPS Management Board and to MPA Estates Oversight Group for discussion/decision in June 2007 prior to a report being submitted to the MPA in July.

Officer Numbers and Impact on ‘Business as usual’

59. It is important to recognise that at this stage, the projected figures quoted below for policing numbers are based on previous or planned events with similar resource commitments. A definitive policing requirement from LOCOG has yet to be agreed and as such, the estimations below will be subject to change.

60. Other significant issues that may arise over the forthcoming five-year period may also significantly change these numbers. From the outset, the MPS has always cautioned that one of the biggest unknowns in this planning operation is the operating environment that the MPS and its’ partners will find themselves in during 2012, including the threat assessment.

61. At this stage of the planning, officer numbers are estimated to be between 4000 and 5500 per day, depending on the day in question and the number of events planned for that day. These are the total numbers required to police Olympics and non-Olympics events, during the Games period. It is important to note that these numbers only include those officers required for policing safety and security and do not include specialist resources such as SCD surveillance, CO19 firearms etc as this policing requirement is still being determined. It is envisaged that the vast majority of these officers will be deployed outside of the Olympic Park providing a pan-London policing operation to cater for the increased population of London and the additional people movements around London during the Games.

62. Protocols are currently being discussed to ensure that any events organised by the GLA, Local Authorities or other bodies, are co-ordinated by Borough event planning offices so that CO11 are kept informed and remain in a position to advise as to the availability of police resources. This will be a crucial requirement in the immediate run up to, and during the Games.

63. A Command and Control structure is under development and is awaiting approval following consultation. This structure incorporates National, pan-London (Regional) and Olympics command teams as well as including the parallel arrangements for London Resilience and other blue-light agencies. The command structure will ensure that there is robust coordination between all demands to enable the Olympics, Non Olympic Events and ‘Business as Usual’ to continue.

Mutual aid and foreign police assistance

64. It is anticipated that there will be a requirement for mutual aid. However, this is not likely to be for general policing (as this will come from MPS resources) but will be for specialist policing such as Specialist Firearm Officer (SFO) teams. At this time, it is not possible to say what the numbers will be as several regional forces will also have significant policing requirements for the non-London events. Further details of the operational requirement for matters such as protection will be needed to enable full demand profiling.

65. Also, there are ‘double-skill’ issues to consider, as many officers may be multi skilled and different business groups could simultaneously bid for the same individual. The People Programme Strand is in liaison with ACPO to produce a ‘National Skills Audit’ and once this has been produced, a clearer picture will be available to progress the mutual aid requirements.

66. The OSD will work closely with Police National Information and Co-ordination Centre (PNICC), who currently have the responsibility for co-ordinating and providing mutual aid, to ensure that all aspects involving the provision of mutual aid is catered for.

67. It is envisaged that foreign police assistance may be a requirement for limited areas of policing the Games e.g. Protection. There are previous examples of such policing arrangements and the MPS are looking to maximise the learning from previous Games and events, like the Tour De France, to assist in realising the opportunities and obstacles related to foreign assistance.

Major policy issues

68. The OSD is currently engaged in determining the extent of potential major policy areas that may or may not require additional regulation through either legislation (primary or secondary), or through the use of statutory instruments.

69. A workshop was recently held involving all OSD partners and other police forces hosting Olympic events to examine these potential major policy implications.

70. Having identified key themes, the results of the workshop are now undergoing research and will be subject to review by the Directorate of Legal Services (DLS).

71. Some of the key themes being examined are:

• Protection of field of play.
• Protection of Venues.
• Waterways and Coastal.
• Data Sharing and accreditation.
• Legal status of delivery partners.
• Human resource arrangements.
• Traffic plans.
• Securing by design.
• Civil liberties.
• Borders/immigration.
• Deployment of foreign police officers.
• Police Powers.
• Firearms.
• Criminal Justice issues including custody.
• Importation/exportation of Firearms for athletes.
• Civil contingencies.
• Procurement.

Abbreviations

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

BOCUs

Borough Operational Command Units

CO

Central Operations

DOP(IT)(PSR)

Defence and Overseas Policy Sub-Committee on Protective Security and Resilience

DLS

Directorate of Legal Services

EIA

Equality Impact Assessment

HMIC

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabularies

IOC

International Olympic Committee

LDA

London Development Agency (landowners of the Stratford site)

LOCOG

London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games

ODA

Olympic Delivery Authority

OIC

Olympic Intelligence Centre

OSD

Olympic Security Directorate

PNICC

Police National Information and Co-ordination Centre

PSD

Property Services Directorate

SCC

Strategic Co-ordination Centre

SCD

Serious Crime Directorate

TP

Territorial Policing

C. Race and equality impact

1. Diversity and the needs of the community will be addressed through every stage of the planning and delivery phases of the programme through a clearly defined and deliverable programme plan where Diversity stands as a critical enabling strand. Diversity will be driven through the Olympic Programme at various levels:

• At an organisational level through involvement in the corporate Diversity and Citizen focus forums.
• At a programme level through engagement, monitoring and involvement by the Diversity programme strand.
• At project level by the Programme Support Team.
• At OCU level through an identified and dedicated Diversity champion.
• At an operational level, through the Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

2. The OSD and Programme Management Team will also ensure that there is full compliance with EIAs throughout the Olympic planning process.

3. The OSD will ensure that consultation on the Olympic Security Planning within the MPS is also addressed through:

• Regular tabled meetings with MPS staff associations and staff support groups.
• Planned communication methods such as publications, bulletins and use of the Intranet.
• Face to face meetings with staff.
• Participation in BCU meetings (both internal and external).

4. The OSD will take every opportunity to grow and develop the OCU over the forthcoming years approaching the Games by continuing to adopt fair, open and transparent selection and recruitment processes to select staff. The OSD will take positive action to address any issues of under-representation in any individual equality strand within its’ workforce and will continue to address recruitment from a position of need and desire to have the OSD reflect the diverse background of London’s communities.

D. Financial implications

1. For the current financial year, the Home Office has agreed to provide the OSD with £4.6m to cover the Olympics security planning. Approximately £4m of this has been allocated to the MPS with the balance going to Dorset, Essex, Hertfordshire and Thames Valley forces.

2. The focus for the MPS in discussions with the Home Office is to initially secure funding for 2008/09 to enable capacity building and ensure critical infrastructure can be put in place. Without this funding from central Government the requirement to deliver the necessary skills, infrastructure, critical information technology integration and other resources, such as police horses will not be achievable during this required time frame. This will therefore pose a significant risk to the successful deliver of the security and policing operation in 2012.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Wayne Chance Superintendent, Olympic Security Directorate, MPS.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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