An Olympic security plan five years in the making is taking shape in Vancouver this week. The Canadian Police is heading up the $900 million security operation, the largest in Canada's history. It involved 15,000 police, private security and military personnel. The Winter Olympics will take place February 12 to 28 in 2010 in Vancouver. Political protests may pose the biggest threat to the games. The threat of a terrorist attack is rated as low. But the memory of the 1972 Munich Olympics has not gone away. That year, a terrorist group attacked the athletes' village, eventually killing 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. It is no coincidence that in Vancouver security patrols are particularly evident around the low-rise apartment buildings where the athletes will be housed. In downtown Vancouver, some roads are already closed, and rings of security fencing surround some key venues. Perched on top of the fencing is a network of 900 surveillance cameras to detect intrusions. |