The Unofficial Weymouth & Portland 2012 Olympic Blog

Even with six years left until the 2012 Olympics sails into our shores, work and strategies are already being planned behind the scenes to ensure the security of the sailing events and all who come to compete and watch them.

Several bodies are in place busy planning every aspect from transport to security, with the Dorset Police being a key member. Dorset Police’s Olympic co-ordinator David Griffith, once a member of the Notting Hill carnival planning team has been working on the Olympic challenge for the past six months said;

“Weymouth can be busy enough in the summer without putting the Olympic Games on its doorstep, lots of different people will bring different burdens. If we win gold and someone has a heart attack, how do we get that person out? All of that is being looked at against the background of an anti-terrorist operation.”

He also added; “It’s sensible for us to prepare as if it is a threat and if peace breaks out in the world in the meantime, we can scale down however the world’s cameras will be there. While there is no history in the last few years of terrorists attacking the Games, it would be wrong of us to say that was a given. If you look at the experience they had in Athens or Sydney, then huge numbers of spectators was not an issue for the sailing.”

The operation will be planned and executed by Dorset Police, although officers from other forces will be drafted in to help.