Security at the 2012 London Olympics: Spectators' perceptions of London as a safe city

The build-up to the 2012 Olympics was fraught with problems and attracted considerable negative publicity in both the British and international press. One key component of this involved security at the Games, with the inability of G4S, the private security firm awarded the contract for Games security, to fulfil its obligations, resulting in a major shift in security provision in the weeks leading up to the Games. Our research on spectators' perceptions of safety and security in London during the Games attains particular significance in this context. However, while previous studies have suggested a heightened crime and disorder problem associated with tourism and at mass public events, the findings here demonstrate that visitors to the Olympics saw London, and the Olympic venues, as safe, in terms of both crime and terrorism, with positive consequences for their future plans to revisit London. The evidence suggests that Olympic security was a success for the government and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), despite the negative publicity attached to G4S and the private security sector more generally.