London 2012 security needs more specialists

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain needs to invest now to build up VIP protection squads, specialist firearms teams, dogs and mounted police to guard the 2012 Olympics, the security chief for the London Games said on Tuesday.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said police wanted to operate with a "lighter touch", telling a London conference: "We have to safeguard the Games without affecting the Olympic look and feel."

But he said there was a need for "serious capability building" in what he called protective services, such as guarding visiting heads of state and controlling crowds with mounted police.

"I think the key requirement for the Olympics in terms of building capability, in terms of investment, essentially is in the area of protective services," Ghaffur said in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute.

Many forces around the country had scaled back their dog and mounted police teams, he said, and training for such specialised roles takes two to three years.

"We have to invest early," Ghaffur said.

David Evans, 2012 project director for the British Security Industry Association, said the Games were facing a big shortfall of private security staff, particularly for screening an estimated 10 million spectators passing through metal detector gates and having their bags checked.

He said the government's Olympic bid had assumed some 6,500 staff would be needed for this, and would come from the private sector.