UNITED GOLDDOM: Home Secretary Theresa May and Policing Minister Nick Herbert both at the weekend during their separate visits to Olympic Park, Battersea Police Briefing Centre, respectively paid glowing tributes to police officers who had worked round the clock to make London 2012 a huge success to the admiration of the world.
During her thank-you tour of the Olympic Park, the Home Secretary was accompanied by Locog chairman Lord Coe and Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison.
Vigilance learnt that Ms May toured the venue, including the Park Operations Centre, the hub of the security operation, from where every inch of the Olympic Park was monitored on banks of screens.
In the course of her visit, she was said to have met police officers from a number of different forces and thanked them for the vital role they had played in making London 2012 a safe, secure and memorable Olympic Games.
Secretary May enthused: “This has been the biggest ever peacetime policing operation and the police have done a fantastic job. There's been huge positive feedback from the public.”
Also, the British spirit of appreciating hard work and excellence was demonstrated as the Policing Minister Nick Herbert last Friday 10 August visited a briefing centre at Battersea Power Station to thank officers for their hard work in delivering a safe and secure Olympic Games.
Nick Herbert meets officers at Battersea police briefing centre
A spokesman for the Police said thousands of officers passed through the centre every day to prepare for Olympics shifts.
The minister who was met by Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison at the Battersea Power Station Muster, Briefing and Deployment Centre: “Nick Herbert said: 'The Olympic Games is showcasing the best of British – and that includes the police service. Over the past fortnight our police officers have shown why they are the finest in the world, whether through their friendly engagement with the public, or working quietly behind the scenes keeping the rest of the capital safe.”
Minister Herbert added: “The Games are now drawing to a close, but with the Paralympics still to come we must not let our guard down. This has been an exceptional operation so far and I would like to thanks the police for all their hard work.”
Muster, Briefing and Deployment Centres are temporary, purpose-built structures designed to support large numbers of officers for comparatively short periods of time. The centres are a tried and tested way of marshalling and briefing large numbers of police officers simultaneously and have been used for other large scale events such as the Notting Hill Carnival.