Paris Olympics security under fire Can the organisers handle it?

As preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris accelerate, business leaders and risk owners must prepare to mitigate several key risks associated with the event.

Crime

While serious crimes (such as murder and rape) remain relatively unlikely, theft will remain a significant threat as criminals adapt to opportunities in an Olympic environment and may step up their activities.

Petty theft is already the scourge of the French capital, but during the Olympic Games experts expect a sharp surge in this type of crime. As a result, pickpocketing and fraud will remain a threat in affluent areas of the city, including around high-end restaurants, shops, and shopping malls, as well as at tourist attractions and public sporting event venues such as stadiums. This type of crime is generally non-violent, but reports over the past few years have suggested increasing aggressiveness by pickpockets towards people perceived to be wealthy, with criminals primarily stealing handbags, watches, and other luxury items.

In the fight against pickpocketing, police must ensure that their officers understand these threats. The main thing is to remain vigilant and look inconspicuous, blending into the crowd. Measures such as installing additional surveillance cameras in places where large crowds of people gather are very important. This measure not only helps to find criminals after committing a theft but also helps to discourage criminals from committing a crime if there are appropriate warning signs.

Sanitation and hygiene

Paris and other French cities do not have a strong reputation for being clean cities. The capital is overrun with homeless people who do not hesitate to take over the living space of the very centre of the city, sometimes neglecting the most basic rules of sanitation and hygiene. Rats have been living happily in the French capital for centuries and have become so familiar that they are even glorified in films such as “Ratatouille.” At the same time, the fact that rats are carriers of many infectious diseases and were the cause of the plague in the Middle Ages is completely forgotten.

ParisLast year's bedbug epidemic did not add any points to Paris in the hospitality sector. According to rumours, the government has already ordered the removal of homeless people from the centre of the capital to more remote places. However, the risk of bedbugs and other epidemics remains real today.

Terrorism will remain a threat during the Olympics

The last mass casualty attack in Paris was in 2015, when individuals linked to the Islamic State (IS) attacked several sites in the capital, including the Stade de France, where many Olympic events will take place. Since then, however, IS's capabilities have declined and French intelligence agencies have improved information-sharing techniques, meaning the threat of such carefully planned attacks is low, even if the Olympics present an attractive target for terrorists of all kinds. However, recent events in Russia, in particular the latest terrorist attack in Crocus Hall, have again forced experts to become concerned about additional anti-terrorism measures during the 2024 Paris Olympics. In particular, President Macron appealed to the leaders of the EU countries with a request for assistance in ensuring the safety of participants in the upcoming Olympics.

New to the Paris Olympics security will be the use of a fleet of drones, which organizers hope will help raise the security level of the event to new heights.

Protest activity

Protest activity in the country can lead to disruptions in transport and disruption of sporting events. Road closures by farmers are a very clear example of how protest movements can affect the course of the Olympics. The riots in Paris and other cities organized by the “yellow vests,” as the whole world has seen, can turn any sporting event into chaos and greatly spoil the vacation of tourists and fans who will be in Paris on July 26, 2024.

Strengthening control over sponsors

Although the government is trying to put pressure on the hotel industry, prices for accommodation in the sector remain high. Another problem could be that empty seats in the stands reserved by large corporations are also causing public outrage in the country, as the crowding of the stands in some sectors occurs against the backdrop of the unavailability of cheaper seats to the general public.

Public transport

Paris's public transport system is chronically overstretched and understaffed. Even without frequent strikes by unions directly affecting the transport sector, they are likely to struggle to cope with the influx of visitors, which could lead to possible delays. Delays can be particularly inconvenient in hot weather: France's public transport is not often air-conditioned. Local hospitals are also suffering from a lack of qualified staff, so organizations sending athletes and delegations to Paris should take this into account when planning for this year's Olympics.

Impact of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will likely recommend allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under a neutral flag from the start of armed conflict in 2022, but their very presence will cause mixed reactions from other participating countries.

As a result, sponsoring companies with ties to Russia or Belarus will face the threat of reputational damage due to negative media coverage as well as protests from activist groups.

Thus, the Olympic Games in Paris remain a high-risk event and we can only hope that the organizers will be able to cope with the challenges mentioned in the article.