A senior figure at the Metropolitan Police has highlighted his fears over the security arrangements for the London Olympic Games, which take place in 2012. Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin proposes that, in order to guarantee the safety of the games, the Met will need to draft in a large number of additional extra special constables. The resultant 6-7,000-strong force would represent a three-fold increase on the allocation currently within the Met.

The assistant commissioner's comments supersede previous concerns over the arrangements for the 2012 Olympic event. Earlier on in 2007, Richard Bryan, the Met's Assistant Commissioner, criticised the slow progress of the Olympic Board regarding its decision making for the Olympics' security. Mr Bryan suggested that the board was ineffective in this way.

Mr Bryan's comments were made at a conference held by the Association of Chief Police Officers two months ago. He detailed how: "The people who are involved in the Games are not privy to the environment we operate in." He added: "Decision-making is too slow and too convoluted. We need a primary voice on security within the Olympic Board. 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."

A related comment was recently made by Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner, who suggested that security at the Olympics may need to be reinforced by importing the services of overseas police officers.

Ultimately, stated Mr Godwin: "We will not be able to police the Olympics in 2012 unless we get 6,000 to 7,000 special constables."

The London Olympic Games are to be held between the dates of July 27^th and August 12^th 2012. London itself remains the sole city in the UK to have played host to the quad-annual event. The 2012 Games will be the third time the Olympics have taken place in the nation's capital, following previous events in 1908 and 1948.

Source - Security International's London Reporter

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