Olympics 2012 Security: to G4S or not to G4S, That is the Question?

And so the story went that that G4S and the British government would swiftly elevate their partnership to marriage after G4S’s successful operation securing the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Newspapers throughout 2011 reported on the as many as 18,000 security guards that G4S would supply for the Olympics. This is the mother of all private security contracts in Europe. One wondered from where in the U.K. G4S would get all those guards. Channel 4 News recap: “Locog [organizers of the Olympics on behalf of the U.K government] originally contracted G4S to provide 2,000 security guards out of the 10,000 required. But when Locog re-estimated the total number needed to 23,700, G4S agreed in December to supply 10,000 personnel total out of 23,700. The new contract is worth an estimated £284m.” Clearly, Eastern Europeans and individuals from other nationalities would have to be drafted. Then, the question also became how G4S and the U.K government will manage the vetting of such a large force. Some of the answers were provided today July 19, 2012. Two weeks before the start of the Olympics, G4S has been unable to provide the 10,000 (note the shrinking figure) or so security guards agreed to in a (non-public) contract. The U.K Army has stepped in to fill the gap with about 3,300 troops in addition to 10,000 already tasked for the Olympics. Over the next few weeks, we will be covering private security news related to London Olympics 2012 in our home page. Here at Private Military Ecology, we will be commenting on some of the questions people have asked on related issues, e.g. has G4S grown beyond a healthy and manageable size?