The Utah Olympic Public Safety Command (UOPSC) has a state-of-the art command centre in Salt Lake City that will be the nerve centre to ensure public safety during next months’ Olympic Games. It involves hundreds of police officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies, scores of federal agents and more than 2,000 National Guard troops.
The centre has more than 40 computer terminals, a row of televisions, and walls papered with maps of the Wasatch Front, and the Olympic Coordination Center.
Tammy Palmer, UOPSC spokeswoman, said “this set-up will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week”.
Federal funds paid for the computer operating system but safety officials declined to say how much the facility cost. The total price tag for Olympic security is about $300 million.
The centre, which becomes operational about one week before the Opening Ceremony, will have a direct phone connection to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt.
Palmer said the system will allow “us to get people the timely and accurate information they need to have just to get around”.
