3,500
more troops assigned to Olympics
Britain put an extra
3,500 military personnel on standby Wednesday to protect venues at
the London Olympics, after a private contractor said it may not be
able to provide enough security guards on time
11
Julyl, 2012
The
contractor, G4S, had been enlisted to provide the bulk of the 13,200
private security guards across 100 venues, but said in a statement
that it may not hit its target because of problems recruiting and
training staff.
In
a statement, the government ministry in charge of crime and security
said the troops would be ready to be deployed to cover any shortfall.
"We
have agreed to offer help to G4S by revising the level of military
support," the Home Office said.
Defense
Secretary Philip Hammond will confirm the full details to Parliament
on Thursday in an official written ministerial statement, the Home
Office said.
G4S
insisted that it still hopes to be able to supply the guards, but
Britain's government is putting the troops on alert to be quickly
deployed if the contractor cannot meet its obligations.
"This
has been an unprecedented and very complex security recruitment,
training and deployment exercise, which has been carried out to a
tight timescale," the company said in a statement. "We have
encountered some issues in relation to workforce supply and
scheduling over the last couple of weeks, but are resolving these
every day."
The
firm said it accepted "that the government has decided to
overlay additional resources." It was not clear what, if any,
penalties the company would face if it failed to meet its contract.
Main
opposition Labour Party lawmaker Tessa Jowell, Olympics minister in
the previous government, said the news was a concern with the London
Games due to begin on July 27.
"This
is clearly a serious problem, and we have to understand how this
problem arose," she said.
Britain
has committed 553 million pounds ($857 million) for venue security,
covering arenas in London and a number of additional locations across
Britain -- including a southern England sailing center and five
soccer stadiums.
In
the country's mammoth Olympics security operation, 7,500 troops are
already being deployed at venues and 6,000 more had previously been
put on stand-by to provide a range of security duties. If all
military personnel -- including the extra forces announced Wednesday
-- were deployed, the total would be 17,000 -- dwarfing the 9,500
troops Britain currently has on the ground in Afghanistan.
About
12,000 police, 3,000 volunteers, Typhoon fighter jets, helicopters,
two warships and bomb disposal experts are also part of the vast
program aimed at securing the London Games.
"The
government has been clear that as part of a civilian and police-led
overall security operation, military personnel will be playing a key
role in providing venue security for Olympic sites ahead of and
during the Games," Britain's defense ministry said in a
statement.
London's
Olympic Organizing Committee said in a statement that the security
plan was "big and complex, but we have the best brains in the
security business working on this -- Home Office, Metropolitan
Police, MoD (Britain's defense ministry) and (the) world's largest
private security business."
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