Ahead of the Games

27 February 2012

The NPIA's Learning Strategy Department profiles the latest phase of Olympics awareness training launched to help UK police services adopt a consistent and coherent approach

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has reminded forces to maintain high security at all London 2012 related events around the UK, not just at the Games themselves. The message comes in the new Olympics awareness training that was recently launched by the agency. The online package is a crucial tool to enable police officers and staff across the UK to prepare for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – the biggest ever peacetime policing operation.

The training, aimed at all 250,000 police officers and staff in the UK, gives details of the safety operation for the London Olympics and information on the main threats – including terrorism, public disorder, domestic extremism, and serious and organised crime, as well as natural hazards. The package also advises police to look out for less obvious offences such as IT crime, ticket fraud and human trafficking, as well as highlighting measures to deal with Olympic related crime, particularly those involving international criminals or victims. The training outlines the challenges of policing the four months from the start of the Olympic Torch Relay in May to the closure of the Olympic Park in September, including the Games themselves and numerous parallel events around the country.

The Olympic awareness training will help in the adoption of a consistent and coherent approach to the national security operation around the Games, which will involve police across the UK. The 70 day Olympic Torch Relay, for example, will impact every force area, as the flame will travel to within an hour of 95% of people in the UK, including the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

Helen Schofield, Head of Learning Strategy at the NPIA, commented that: "The awareness training recognises that the Games will need a massive national policing operation involving forces in every part of the country. It highlights the significant challenges facing police for several months before, during and after the Games themselves, including possible targets away from the main Olympic venues. The e-learning will help ensure the Games are policed effectively yet unobtrusively so that the sporting and cultural celebrations are not overshadowed by the security operation."

Completion of the online training via the Police Managed Learning Environment is automatically recorded so forces can monitor and track completion of the learning by their staff. The e-learning modules are being developed in three stages:
• The Tri-Service module, launched in May 2011, is a high-level overview to prepare police, fire and ambulance colleagues for the London Olympics and related events around the UK between May and September 2012;
• Police General Awareness was launched on the National Centre for Applied Learning and Technology's Managed Learning Environment on 17th October 2011. This is designed solely for the police, and contains information not currently in the public domain. It is aimed at all police officers and staff, informing them about the main safety and security issues, key events and venues, enhanced transport facilities, command structure, and mutual aid arrangements, as well as the Olympic Torch Relay, Cultural Olympiad and parallel events that will impact every force area;
• The final module, Police Operational Awareness, is still in production and will be issued in March 2012. It will contain key essential information for personnel directly involved in policing the Games, and help to ensure that those colleagues are fully prepared to play their part in delivering what will be the greatest sporting event that many police will support during their careers.

The modules provide the most cost-effective and flexible way of giving 250,000 police officers and staff – in addition to other emergency service personnel – around the UK consistent knowledge and understanding of how the Games will impact upon them.

The training was commissioned by Association of Chief Police Officers, and has been developed through close collaboration with the Olympics and Paralympics Co-ordination team on behalf of all forces. They will ensure a consistent and coherent approach to safety and security at the Games, as well as at numerous Games related events between May and September 2012. The NPIA Olympic Training Project team will be monitoring and reporting force completions of this training.

Two further Olympic e-learning modules, Airwave and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), are currently being developed and will be available in early 2012.

The Airwave training package is aimed at all mutual aid officers being deployed in London, and will familiarise officers with the Olympic handset. GIS, meanwhile, is a common operational package provided through a web portal very similar to Google or Virtual Map. It provides maps and plans of venues and locations for use in operational planning, briefings and deployments. The e-learning audience will be police officers and staff who need access to GIS whilst on mutual aid. The personnel required to use the mapping portal will be from various police rank or different civilian grades who will need an awareness of the package of GIS capability and how to use it (along the lines of Google Earth). The portal will provide limited mapping functionality. The analysis will be able to be published over the portal and shared with Olympic stakeholders.

For more information about the training, please contact: OlympicsTrainingProject@npia.pnn.police.uk.