Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

Events
Deployment
Police Police Staff
Officers
£
State Visit of George Bush
(18-21 November 2003)
11,078 199 3,924,680
Policing Objectives and Strategy
2.24 The Carnival policing operation takes over complete responsibility for the Carnival area from
the local police for the entire duration of the event and deal with every incident requiring a
police response. In its oral and written submissions to the Carnival Review Group, the MPS set
out the strategic objectives, which govern their involvement in the planning and delivery of
the Carnival:
• to prevent public disorder.
• to assist the organiser and the local authorities to ensure public safety.
• to prevent damage to property.
• to prevent crime and take all reasonable steps to arrest offenders if crime is committed.
• to minimise the effects of congestion to vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the
surrounding area.
• to minimise the effects of any disruption to community life in the area.
2.25 In policing the Carnival the MPS works to a predetermined geographical area based around
Carnival route. With such a large area to cover, the policing operation divides the Carnival
area into five sectors. Each of these sectors is brought under the command of a Sector
Bronze. These Bronzes - who are of at least superintendent rank - report to a chief
superintendent, “Silver”, who in turn reports to “Gold”, the event commander. This group,
effectively forming the senior command team for the event, is collectively responsible under
the guidance of “Gold” for the setting and implementation of the strategy for policing
Carnival. Each sector bronze is assisted by their own dedicated support team consisting of
other senior officers who ensure that all policing functions are carried out.
2.26 In order to ensure a uniform approach to the policing of the event, a structured process is
followed. This process is led by a series of Command Team meetings through the course of
the year. These meetings are supported by a variety of additional meetings and exercises.
These include planning meetings held by the sector bronzes with their own command teams
who also participate in specially designed training. A working party also meets to make sure
that all necessary administrative and logistical support is in place for the event.
2.27 In the immediate lead up to the Carnival, a series of comprehensive briefings take place.
These briefings are used to prepare and inform the supervisors of every policing serial
employed on the event. Each briefing follows the same sequence; Gold, Carnival video, Sector
Bronze and the sector briefing officer. (The video provides an outline of what to expect at
Carnival). In addition, every officer employed is briefed by his or her respective sector briefing
officer on each day of Carnival. These briefings include the showing of a Carnival video. In
order to support these pre-event functions a series of command team meetings chaired by
Gold are held during the course of the event. Two of these meetings are held each day at a
location within the centre of Carnival.
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