The armed forces were called in to make up the shortfall when security company A recent report blamed G4S’s poor communication and misleading information for the problems.
Simon Battersby, director of security supplier Showsec, said it was experiencing more scrutiny from clients since the G4S problems made headlines. "It’s not just the government’s clients being more thorough with contracts, the whole industry increased its due diligence to ensure clients are being delivered what the contractor has promised."
Battersby dismissed the idea of the army being used as regular security personnel for major events, which was "The idea that the army could be used on a regular basis is not a practical, sustainable model, and is not relevant given the capabilities of the wider private security model," he said.
Mark Harding, chairman of the United Kingdom Crowd Management Association (UKCMA) agreed that the army couldn’t replace commercial security providers. "There’s a history of armed forces having a presence at events, which provides the public with assurance against terrorism. There were a raft of cohesive safety measures, beyond the capabilities of a crowd management company, which played a significant part in delivering safe events throughout the Games period," he said.
"Commercial organisations do not have the extraordinary spare capacity, financial investment and resources available which is unique to the armed forces. The role of the forces should remain national security: there is a vast difference between national security and safety at public events and places of entertainment."
He said that the industry had a duty to promote its positive achievements in the wake of the G4S fiasco: "It is possible that the image and capability of the industry has been temporarily damaged. It’s up to the industry to send out positive messages about the phenomenal achievements during the same period. UKCMA members delivered successful safe and secure environments at over five thousand events throughout the UK during games time, including central London and at large scale parallel Olympic events. In excess of twenty million people attended these events."
Showsec, which tendered for the Olympic contract but withdrew from the negotiations, training more than 1,000 staff during the Olympics and working on events from and the and to nationwide tour support for Madonna. "We haven’t experienced a drop in confidence at Showsec," said Battersby, "and we have maintained a high level of service plus close relationships with clients."
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