Secret 2012 Olympic security files left on train by senior Police officer

[richard]

Secret Scotland Yard files said to contain policing strategy for the London 2012 Olympics were left on a train by a senior officer, it emerged today.

The dossier, found by a commuter, reportedly included details that would have helped terrorists attack the Games in London this summer.

The files, marked ‘restricted’, are understood to have explained the security plans in place to foil an atrocity by Al-Qaeda operatives.

It was also said to contain details of pre-Games rehearsals, an explanation of emergency ‘lock-down’ procedures and plans to avoid traffic congestion.

The files, left by a member of the Met’s Territorial Policing branch, also allegedly contained the names and mobile numbers of police officers.

More worrying yet, it is said to have contained officers’ criticisms of plans – including condemnation of the police’s Olympic radios that ‘never work’.

The blunder will embarrass Scotland Yard because senior officers - trusted to oversee the £1billion security operation during the Games - have stressed the importance of being ‘professional’.

The officer who lost the files is now believed to have been reprimanded by bosses.

A passenger found the documents on a train in Dartford, Kent, earlier this month and handed them to the Sun before they were later returned to police.

The commuter told the newspaper: ‘I couldn't believe any policeman could have left this on a train. It's a worry.’

But Scotland Yard insisted security for the London Olympics had not been compromised and claimed the documents were not thought to be ‘operationally sensitive’.

Efforts to keep the Games safe will see one of the largest security operations ever mounted in the UK.

It it set to cost just over £1billion - with at least £475million coming from the taxpayer.

Among the personnel tasked with preventing a terrorist atrocity will be around 13,500 British troops - 4,000 more than the number who currently serve in Afghanistan.

Bomb disposal experts, specialist sniffer dog handlers, building search teams and regular soldiers will support the police this summer.

Snipers in Lynx and Puma helicopters will patrol the skies of London.

And Typhoon jets will move to RAF Northolt in west London from bases in Scotland and Lincolnshire so they can be scrambled to the Olympic site within minutes.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said: ‘On Thursday, January 5 a Metropolitan Police Service officer lost his bag containing a number of documents.

‘The officer reported the loss to a senior officer. Directorate of Professional Standards have been informed as is routine.

‘We do not believe that the bag contained operationally-sensitive documents.

‘The documents are now back in police possession.’


Source
By Julian Gavaghan
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