Hosting an
event like the Olympics’ requires a large number of security personnel to
operate x-ray machines, search vehicles and stand guard at venues. For the
London 2012 Olympics over 10,000 personnel required to be recruited and trained
to prevent theft, activism and unruly activity. Mobilizing an enormous workforce
via temporary recruits or volunteers is an expensive affair for short events,
which usually results in poor or hurried training of personnel, and inadequate background
checks. It is not possible to recruit well in advance due to the large numbers
and need to contain staff costs. It may be said that the temporary workforce is used more for
mitigation of risks rather than removal of it, with the prime responsibilities for
security resting on the more qualified forces such as police and military
and their use of a defense in depth security cordon to protect athletes and
people in venues.
When I read
about the mysterious woman who walked alongside flag bearer Sushil Kumar in
red track top, blue pants and sneaker smiling, waving and soaking in the moment
as the Indian contingent walked the track it indicated a brazen gate crash into
what should have been considered the inner sanctum of the security
perimeter.
In this case,
it turned out to be a protocol breach. An over eager Indian student volunteer
taking up the opportunity to walk with the team. But it also indicated a large
failure of the security apparatus, volunteer training and supervision of
volunteers. The same security vulnerability could have been exploited by
terrorists for malicious ends.
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