IAWP at the Paralympics

The 2010 Paralympic Games will draw to a close tomorrow. It is truly amazing to witness the determination and spirit of all the athletes who have competed in the games. I hope you have been able to tune and watch some of it.

As I have previously mentioned, one of the IAWP Medal of Valour Award Winner (Edmonton 2001), RCMP Corporal Laurie White has been the go-to person for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics. She has shared some of her experience with me for this blog:

Laurie's Story....
We have about 750 members deployed to the Paralympic Games and they are primarily E Division Resources (RCMP term for the Province of British Columbia). This is considerably scaled down from the 7000 officers from all over Canada who helped out during the Olympics.

Security planning for the Paralympics followed the same process as for the Olympics. Decisions about equipment and resources were made based on threat levels and the unique characteristics and features of the the venues. However, there are fewer venues, athletes and spectators so the security measures are relative to the size and capacity differences.

When I traveled to Beijing to participate in the International Observer Program I was fortunate to get a glimpse of what lay ahead for us. This program is not specifically designed for security personnel. Future host country representatives participate in it. The host country of the particular games organize the program for us. During the 2010 games no one is assigned to shadow me.

I have enjoyed the flexibility and freedom of this position. Police officers are often placed in very defined roles with very specific job functions. This was a new job so I was given considerable room to be creative with my role. It has opened my eyes to the complex world of major events and all of the critical elements involved in the planning process. Plus, it has been a good fit for my personal perspective.

After the 2010 games are complete I head off to Operations Strategy Branch and will be working in Police Resource Management. I am always looking forward to a new challenge and this new job will certainly provide that.

Laurie.