As the first anniversary of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games approaches, Vigilance can report that a ground-breaking legacy for London’s business community, created in a unique safety and communications partnership between Government, the Metropolitan Police and London’s business leaders has been launched.
The first of its kind, the Cross-sector Safety and Security Communications partnership (CSSC) is a partnership between the Police, Government and industry that brings London’s private and public sectors together. It has gained worldwide accolades and created a future cross-sector communications legacy that will be replicated around the world. Founders include Sir David Veness, Don Randall MBE, former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams, MP James Brokenshire and the Bank of England’s John Briggs.
The CSSC was created in advance of the 2012 Games to ensure everyone in London could access real-time information on incidents to stay safe and secure. Now, all London businesses; banks, councils, retail outlets, tourist attractions and public organisations, are being invited to join the CSSC to enhance communications and to ensure London is always open for business as usual 24/7. It is a fascinating story of a complete infrastructure built purely on goodwill, with some insightful quotes from those involved. Would you like to inform your readers how to register and how they would benefit?
For London, 2012 was unprecedented; in addition to more than 15,000 athletes from 204 countries, London hosted almost six million spectators, including 500,000 overseas visitors – closely watched by the world’s media. In the midst of the celebrations, London still had to maintain ‘business as usual’, cope with huge demands on its infrastructure and ensure the safety and security of London’s premises, residents and workforce alongside millions of visitors. In the run up to the Games it was recognised that our Capital needed to initiate a communications and resilience platform that was ready and able to meet the demands of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
A team of advisers from the London Metropolitan Police, London First and the Home Office started discussions and formed the CSSC between 25 public and private sector organisations from across London. A suitable, reliable communications platform was sought and the CSSC Executive chose the award-winning business continuity and communication suite, iModus from Vocal Limited which is able to send a message to 7.5million people at the same time and meet any communication demands.
Through the CSSC partnership, iModus has been used by agencies dealing with numerous emergencies ensuring they communicate with each other and keep the public and private sectors informed about what is happening and maintain ‘business as usual’.
The Benefits of Joining the CSSC
Through the CSSC, the Metropolitan Police Service provides news and information about policing activity or initiatives, crime prevention advice as well as major incidents affecting geographic areas. It also offers advice on how to prepare for emergency situations by preparing business continuity plans.
‘The beauty of the police operation room during the Olympics was that for the first time you had all levels of police sitting with communications experts and information was disseminated by CSSC and sent back through the same channels,’ said Steve Lemon, Business Engagement Officer for the Metropolitan Police. ‘It meant public communications could be adapted quickly due to current activities such as public order events.’
Trevor Wheatley-Perry, Managing Director of Vocal said: ‘The smoothness of how the CSSC operated during one of the biggest events in the world proves the partnership is a great success and we believe it will continue to be so. We did some big Olympic feedback sessions and the feedback was that it was structured, organised and they had confidence in us. We hope more businesses and organisations will get involved and make it even better.’