The RCMP spokesman heading the unit responsible for ensuring the safety of athletes and visitors to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games said following the arrests in Toronto of 17 people with possible links to terrorism, the arrests do not indicate a heightened concern regarding security at the Games.
According to Canada.com, Sgt. John Ward of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit said there is “no identifiable threat” to the 2010 Games.
The RCMP, the Vancouver police department, and the Department of National Defence are among those responsible for security at the 2010 Games. Their budget is $175 million, smaller than the $310 million (U.S.) budgeted for the Salt Lake Games following the Sept. 11 terrorist bombings in New York and Washington, and the $1.4 billion (U.S.) for the Turin Games.
But Ward said, “we’re presently working within that budget and it’s not an issue for us at this particular time. We can’t compare Torino to Vancouver, we can’t compare Salt Lake City to Vancouver or Canada”.
Insp. Rob Rothwell of the Vancouver police predicts more money will be needed. He said, “my expectation is that certainly we will require, as we move closer to 2010, additional funding and resourcing in order to properly address the threats”.
In London experts and officials have been meeting to discuss security at the London 2012 Summer Games. Security experts were told that last year’s bombings in London had added a new dimension to the threat to public events.
Richard Kemp, Security Director of Canary Wharf, said the London bombings last year, which occurred just hours after the announcement was made that London won the 2012 Games, “remind us that we now face a problem that is, I think, many orders of magnitude more serious than the terrorist attacks of 72 (in Munich) or 96 (in Atlanta), and that is suicide terrorism”.
Experts say the intense media spotlight, which focuses on events like the Olympic Games, is something that terrorists are conscious of and seek to manipulate.
