Hundreds of police officers across Canada on Olympic standby

VANCOUVER — The RCMP-led security unit protecting the 2010 Winter Games is holding 750 police officers across Canada in reserve in case there's an H1N1 flu outbreak, other illnesses or a perceived security threat that requires their presence.

Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer, the officer in charge of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, said Thursday the officers are in addition to more than 6,000 RCMP and police officers who will staff the Olympics starting Jan. 21.

"We have an additional 750 that . . . are pre-accredited, pre-screened, pre-approved, have their packages," he said. "That's part of our contingency planning in case any number of things happen, an increase in the threat level, H1N1, people start getting sick despite our best efforts around flu shots."

Most of those are "generalists" in the RCMP rather than specialists, the Integrated Security Unit said.

Mercer said the unit had also managed to reduce the overall number of security personnel needed for the Games.

"When we talked a year and a half ago, we said (6,600 to 6,800 officers)," he said after his address to the annual Emergency Preparedness Conference in Vancouver. "The numbers continued to come down as the planning matured. Do we need three people when one is enough?"

He said the Integrated Security Unit's sworn-officer contingent includes more than 1,700 officers from non-RCMP police departments across the country. In addition, the unit has 4,000 members of the Canadian Forces. Another 4,800 private security guards working for Contemporary Security Canada, a partnership formed to provide security for the Games, will operate screening services at venues.

Overall, the Integrated Security Unit will have 14,800 people working for it, he said. The unit's portion of the $900-million Olympic security budget is just over $490 million, and he said he's hopeful some of that will be left over.

jefflee@vancouversun.com