Scotland Yard chief to discuss security for 2010 Games

With less than a year to go for the Commonwealth Games, Scotland Yard chief Paul Stephenson will meet Indian officials here Saturday to discuss expanded cooperation between India and Britain in ensuring a sporting event free of terrorist incidents.
'Britain and India are engaged in counter-terror cooperation. Security of Commonwealth Games is a concern,' sources said here, while explaining the context of Stephenson's visit.

Speaking in Mumbai at a seminar of security experts on ensuring 'safe and resilient cities', Stephenson Friday shared Britain's experience in combating terrorism and a slew of preventive steps taken to avert terror attacks, specially in the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, terror attack on London.

'Terrorism is a challenge we must all confront if we are to protect our countries from fear and insecurity and, in taking on this challenge, we are safeguarding the most basic human right - the right of ordinary people to feel safe and go about their daily lives without fear,' he said at the conference.

Stephenson is the Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service, the nodal agency responsible for policing within Greater London, which is also known as Scotland Yard.

'Terrorism is a threat that is global, diverse and sometimes unpredictable,' he said while detailing the British government's counter-terrorism strategy, called CONTEST, which is deployed for providing comprehensive security across the UK.

'But I remain optimistic that we can respond faster and more effectively than ever before, using the same technologies that allow that connectivity to happen,' he said.

The CONTEST strategy, he explained, has four key elements: prevent, pursue, protect and prepare.

It includes the prevention of people becoming terrorists or supporting violence extremism; the active pursuit of terrorists engaged in planning attacks through investigation; the protection of the country against terrorist attack; and the need to prepare to respond to an attack that cannot be stopped to mitigate its impact.