London – United Kingdom, Nov 08: The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), the not-for-profit institution that specializes in sport security and integrity, highlighted the scale and nature of the global threat to the integrity of sport at the 7th International Sports Event Management Conference, taking place in London from 7th-9th November 2012.
Chris Eaton (Director of Sporting Integrity, ICSS) said: “The global threat to the integrity and credibility of sport is real and not exaggerated, with sport result manipulation for the purposes of betting fraud delivering tens of millions of dollars to international organised crime. The surge of organised criminal bodies operating within sport is fast becoming an issue of national security and government policy and as a result, now poses a serious threat to the independence of sports administrators.
He added: “Sport and competition administrations are often multi-layered and can include loosely connected organisational components. As a result, identifying those responsible and accountable is often a challenge.”
Moving forward, he believes a number of urgent measures should be put in place to protect sporting integrity, including the application of structured principles and appropriate due diligence within international sporting bodies to protect individuals and competitions vulnerable to match-fixers and criminal organisations. Creating awareness, prevention and protection are key elements the ICSS will tirelessly continue to work on and offer specific programmes and services.
Also speaking at the conference, Helmut Spahn (Executive Director, ICSS) recommended a number of key security principles that major event organisers should adhere to when planning events, including the need to embed experienced security experts at the early stages of strategic planning, as well as highlighting the need to develop a structured exchange of knowledge between security experts and major event organizers.
Speaking on a panel including David Grevemberg (CEO, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games), Peter Bayer (CEO, Innsbruck 2012 Youth Winter Olympic Games) and Nigel Rushman (Founder, Rushmans), Helmut Spahn (Executive Director, ICSS) said: “Security is one of the key elements in the organisation of any major event. With many new and emerging cities and nations looking to host major international sporting events, it is important to develop a philosophy on the key elements what security means and a tailor-made security concept, considering a holistic, integrated approach.
“Additionally, it is vital that major event organisers focus on faithful cooperation with the main stakeholders but also take into account and accept differences in infrastructure, experience, culture, technological capabilities and financial aspects from between various host countries and organising committees. Finally, quality of Security Management is a key for success and can never be underestimated.
To support major event organisers, the ICSS has developed the ICSS Security, Safety, Integrity ModelTM (The ICSS SSI ModelTM), an integrated and holistic framework for security and integrity planning.” —- ICSS
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