The security dossier for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in Paris in 2024 is entering a new phase. From Monday April 17, the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) will bring together the twenty-eight private security companies that were selected as part of a first call for tenders launched in April 2022, and the results of which were announced on March 29.
“These service providers contractually represent around a quarter of our security guard needs”, explains Bruno Le Ray, who was appointed, on April 5, director of security for the organizing committee. The Cojop considers it necessary to have 17,000 agents per day, on average, for the duration of the Games. “With a peak of 22,000 people around the 1er August, when most sites will be in operation”specifies Mr. Le Ray, former military governor of Paris and who has been, for two years, special adviser to Etienne Thobois, the director general of Paris 2024.
A second call for tenders to players in the security sector, which covers seventy-four lots, was launched in December 2022. Its results will be known in July. It is therefore only on this horizon that the organizing committee will have a clear vision of the situation. In the meantime, the Cojop intends to work hand in hand with its first twenty-eight service providers to iron out a series of difficulties inherent in the organization of an event of such magnitude.
“The Games are extraordinary! It is without common measure with a World Cup of football or rugby. This is why provider companies need to be reassured. We will guide them over the next few months.”, develops Thomas Collomb, the deputy director of security for Paris 2024, who now reports to Bruno Le Ray. The two men worked on securing Euro 2016 football, a demonstration under high tension, which took place after the attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris.
“A question of anticipation”
Many subjects are on the table with security companies: aid for recruitment and training, accommodation of agents for the duration of the Games, feminization of teams to allow searches of the bodies of spectators, use of body scanners, problem of attrition specific to the private security sector…
This last point is particularly sensitive: to be certain of having the number of agents planned on D-Day, organizers and service providers must plan for an additional volume of mobilizable personnel, of the order of 10% to 30%, according to industry standards. . “Companies have been asked to have a margin of additional resources”explains Collomb.
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