A report in the tabloid press today claims that G4S have been fraudulently recording canine search team activity at the site of the Olympic site in Stratford, East London. The three year-long scandal has recently been exposed by an internal audit and has resulted in the suspension of two senior dog section managers while an investigation is completed.
The reason for the deception – profit protection.
The deal for security at the Games between G4S and Olympic organisers, Locog, is worth £284 million and has conditions attached to it requiring all the contracted shifts must be covered or financial penalties will be imposed. The figure reported is £500 per uncovered shift.
When gaps occurred in the schedule it is alleged that the bosses at G4S took steps to protect their funds and simply filled the gaps in their rota with the names of employees who were on days off or leave, thus avoiding the penalties. It is also rumoured that some of the search dogs being used were not explosives dogs, but drugs dogs drafted in due to a lack of appropriately trained animals.
Unfortunately, this means that for the duration of the project, the searches of traffic entering the site and the facilities themselves have not been searched as often as required, if at all. With the Olympics being such a huge potential target for those that would seek to further their causes by terrorism or any other means possible, it would have been nice to think that the security contract would have been treated more seriously.
Translated into the Policing environment, it’s is not a huge leap to go from false recording if search dog activity to false recording of welfare checks on prisoners being held in G4S managed custody suites. We all dread a death in custody – I hope that, over the next few years, I never have to write about someone losing their life as a result of negligence in one of our non-Police staffed custody centres.
Only time will tell….
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:52
And this just goes to highlight EXACTLY why private (profit driven) firms shouldn’t be used in place of Policing. It won’t be long before some controversy comes out of Lincolnshire and I sure hope the pillocks in charge wake up and smell the coffee before they privatise the entire Police force.
June 22nd, 2012 at 12:41
[...] A report in the tabloid press today claims that G4S have been fraudulently recording canine search team activity at the site of the Olympic site in Stratford, East London. The three year-long sca… [...]
June 22nd, 2012 at 17:43
As I’ve written elsewhere, so apologies if you think i’m repeating myself, the best way to defeat the privatisation of the police ‘service’ in general, or large chunks of it, is for Wallace and Mrs Balls to state unequivocally and as soon as possible, that any or all functions hived off to the private sector by this government will be ‘re-nationalised’ for want of a better word as soon as a Labour administration is elected (as it will be by default) in 2015.
And most importantly, that it will do so without compensation to the companies (and therefore the shareholders) concerned.
And for the record, I am not, nor have I ever been, a socialist; but desperate times call for desperate measures.
June 22nd, 2012 at 18:00
It’s pretty much the only promise that would make me vote Labour after their last time around.
June 23rd, 2012 at 09:32
Better check the prisoners in the G4S prisons. How many of them are papier-mâché dummies?
June 23rd, 2012 at 11:47
This is nothing to do with whether people are non-Police contractors, it’s about lazyness and greed. Believe it or not, Police Officers can also say things have been done or falsify evidence too. It’s poor management, no checks being done and people taking no pride in their work. This actually shows a negligence on the part of the Police through not being thorough enough.
June 23rd, 2012 at 12:15
RTFQ:
How can the failure of a contracted security firm be the fault of the Police when they had nothing to do with it at any stage? The contract is between G4S and Locog and is completely separate from any work carrying Police responsibility.
Its a sad day when the work of G4S is used – regardless of function – to criticise the police, regardless of their involvement.
June 30th, 2012 at 16:35
Anon you are right about it being poor management, although that strikes me as a good argument against the “private good, public bad” mantra we are being fed by the govt. In fact it all boils down to good management whatever sector you are talking about, although a public sector service won’t ever have it’s priorities warped by the need to make a profit, and that’s the real issue here.
July 2nd, 2012 at 20:05
you have far better accountability systems with public bodies than with private companies.