500,000 CCTV cameras to monitor Olympics

Story link: 500,000 CCTV cameras to monitor Olympics by Jan Harris

The Metropolitan Police (Met) force’s plan to police the 2012 Olympics includes the use of up to 500,000 CCTV cameras.

The Met hopes to use its own network of 10,000 cameras, together with traffic and congestion cameras across London.

The military, police and intelligence services would work together to operate the network from a control centre in the capital. The plans are still at an early stage.

Olympic security coordinator, assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, recently gave an update on security plans for the 2012 Games.

He confirmed that efforts would be made to use existing capabilities, including various CCTV networks. These would be harnessed and integrated in London, with due regard to current legislation, in order to effectively mitigate specific threats as part of the Olympic security effort.

The command centre is expected to remain in place after the Olympics.