APOLOGY ON OLYMPICS SECURITY

OLYMPICS-G4S SECURITY BOSS
SORRY FOR GAMES GUARDS FIASCO

London (AP) - The boss of British security group G4S said Saturday he was sorry that his company had bungled the contract to help protect the 2012 Olympic Games, a humbling televised apology that followed days of ugly news about his firm’s failures. Nick Buckles spoke to the BBC as British newspapers were filled with accounts of chaotic recruitment, sloppy security, and even an allegation that some G4S staffers weren’t fluent in English. 
The firm has not been able to provide enough guards, and some 3,500 British troops are being called in to help fill the gap in security and police have been put on notice that they may need to help fill the breach. “We’re deeply disappointed and we certainly are very sorry for what’s happened over the last week or two,” the chief executive said. 
In December G4S promised to provide that number of people to help keep the games safe, although in reality far more than 10,000 people need to be recruited in order to compensate for attrition, sickness, and absenteeism.

Buckles said that the operation was a “mammoth undertaking” involving a complex recruitment operation in five or six different stages, adding that, some 4,000 people were on the ground and that about 9,000 people were still in the pipeline - which still leaves a significant shortfall. Buckles has said his company would foot the bill for the last-minute military deployment, putting the loss on his company’s 284 million pound ($442 million) contract at up to 50 million pounds ($78 million.) That includes paying penalties of 10 or 20 million pounds for failing to live up to his company’s end of the deal. 
The costs aren’t just financial - they also are a hit to its reputation. G4S manages prisons, transports cash, and installs surveillance systems across the in some 125 countries. Its inability to get enough people to secure the world’s biggest sporting event has left some observers wondering at the wisdom of doing business with the company elsewhere. 
A call-up of the additional 3,500 troops would take the armed forces tally at the Games to 17,000, more than the 9,500 currently deployed in Afghanistan.

 

The head of private security firm G4S said his firm only realised just over a week ago it would not be able to supply enough venue guards for this month's London Olympics, as he publicly apologised for the embarrassing failure. Security has always been a major issue for London 2012 organisers and a source of great concern for the government. This worry is common to all nations and people, but in this material world all security planning is rarely successful.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Everyone is hankering for security.   Most people make a great deal of effort and compromise to get security.  In the name of security, one cultivates friends, cooperates with people in society, makes compromise with rivals, goes out of the way to be in the good books of family members, enthusiastically promotes the activities of his community, remains prepared to accommodate the opponent’s viewpoints, attempts at rapprochement with enemies and willingly makes sacrifices for the nation.  But ultimately, despite such manipulated behavior, no one can be sure of foolproof security, nor does anyone have any capacity whatsoever to provide security to others. ... Similarly, one who  desires to cross the ocean of material existence, the samsara sagara, should not seek the shelter of any demigod or any other apparently powerful individual of this world, but the fearless protection of Lord  Krishna’s Lotus Feet.

Śrīla Bhakti Swarup Tirtha Mahārāja :
"Bhagavat Kathamrita" -  "Are you Secure?"
Volume 1 - Issue 7 - January 2010
Gaudiya Vaishnava Association
http://www.gva.in/index.php

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/