ABSTRACT

Introduction This chapter will outline the role that the private security industry has to play in securing major events. The London Games will be the largest private security event there has ever been in the UK, yet the industry will be faced with some serious challenges – such as adequate training, the provision of sufficient numbers and the important need to generate mechanisms for more effective partnership with public bodies such as the police. The Private Security Industries (PSI) of many countries often provide a major contribution to that country’s security through the supply of equipment both to the police and public service and to the commercial sector. Governments have come to realise in the fight against terrorism and serious organised crime that, because of limited budgets, they cannot ‘do it all’. Those operating in the private sector have long known this as they provide security to many public spaces. A good example of this is in retail parks and shopping malls, both of which rely upon private sector provision. The private security sector in any nation is diverse in the services and products it supplies to that country’s public and commercial interests, which will range from guarding to security systems, consultancy to cash movement. The role of traditional private security has widened to include homeland security and resilience, and areas formerly in the defence or public arena such as CBRN protection. Prisons, policing and border and immigration control are also increasingly handled by the PSI. For example, G4S manage safe and secure short-term holding facilities at ports around the country and staff also work at Immigration Reporting Centres. Reliance Security Group operate 39 police custody suites and manage 350 custody areas within the UK court system. A total of 11 per cent of the UK’s prison population are housed in prisons owned and managed by the private sector. Security is one of the world’s major growth industries, yet it is one built around steady and predicted demand. The industry is conservative in its outlook and, as such, is risk averse. Major events within developed nations are usually of a scale that lies within the capacity of the country’s industry to supply. Most of the developed nations have embraced regulation of the private security industry

with regard to the background of employees and companies working in it, and particularly those people guarding persons or property. This usually takes the form of licensing the individual, employer or both. Within the UK, the regulator is the Security Industry Authority whose main role is to licence individuals in areas such as Door Supervision, Security Guarding and Close Protection. They operate a voluntary approval scheme for employers. The security of major events is a mixture of security in the form of access control and searching and safety through stewarding. Stewarding has become increasingly sophisticated and the term ‘Crowd Management’ is often used to reflect this change This chapter outlines and examines the role of the private security industry in providing security for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In doing so, the chapter is organised into four substantive areas of discussion. First, the key public players charged with supplying Olympic security are mapped. These range from state-level government agencies to more localised organisations such as the police. The second section provides an anatomy of private security provision for the Olympics. Rather than being considered as a cohesive body, the industry is comprised of a myriad of bodies holding varying degrees of scale, capacity and expertise. This section examines these components of the wider industry in more detail before considering the role of supra-industry bodies, such as Trade Associations, and the implications of regulation. The third area of discussion examines the varying requirements for security provision in the lead-up and actual staging periods of the Games. The chapter then draws out and critiques some of the important analytical themes related to private security and the Olympics. Key here are issues of cohesion, both across private sector suppliers and also with public sector agencies. Also identified is the need to transmit and build upon lessons learnt at previous Olympiads and the need for all partners to recognise the boundaries of the private security industry’s capacity. The chapter will conclude with a brief restatement of the key themes and a reflection on post-2012 considerations for private security providers.