ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the emergence of both terrorism and local youth gangs in the context of the Westfield shopping centre. A new space with its own policing requirements, and with a significance in terms of the political economy of the Olympics that far outweighed its overt function as a mere shopping mall. The mall was iconic, the biggest of its kind in the UK. It was also integral to the notion of Olympic Legacy; it was to be the place which attracted post-Olympic visitors to the newly invented commercial zone of Stratford City'. While the mall's potential for retail profits was described as massive', the prospect of terrorism was deemed possible'. The first, within 90 minutes of the mall opening, was a sexual assault: a young woman had her breasts grabbed by a male. For Westfield's managers a passive commercial utopia was vital, and they sought control around both enforcement in the mall and any consequent crime-related publicity.
