Security exercise at Olympic Village goes awry when helicopter landing impeded

Had the make-believe Olympic security exercise conducted today (October 20) by the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit played out in real life, the consequences would have been messy.

According to the scenario practiced by security forces, “criminal” elements were spotted at a building in the tightly packed Olympic Village. These were apparently no ordinary delinquents armed with spray paint cans. The threat was such that the ISU commander at the site decided it was necessary to call in the heavy hitters—the RCMP’s elite emergency response team.

From somewhere, the heavily armed ERT troopers boarded a Griffin helicopter from the Canadian Forces. And off the chopper went to Southeast False Creek.

As the scenario was originally scripted, the aircraft would have then landed on a strip of earth a few hundred metres away from the target building—no rappelling here, though this would have been dramatic. The team would have rushed out, crossed a playground, and stormed into the target building.

The exercise, preparation for the $1-billion Olympic security operations, had all the makings of a Hollywood action thriller.

The V2010 ISU’s media staff repeatedly told reporters and camera operators—watching from an open-air second-floor garage at West 1st Avenue and Cook Street across from the exercise area—that it was going to be fast and quick.

How it played out was quite different. The chopper had to circle the site a number of times as precious minutes went by. The designated landing site was between a mound of earth and an orange backhoe. The backhoe was supposed to have been removed by construction crews but somehow it wasn’t.

The pilot made an initial attempt to land his bird but backed out and flew off.

With about 30 minutes gone and the chopper remaining airborne, RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Cote then started to tell reporters that the exercise has been aborted because of the tight landing space.

As the RCMP spokesperson was informing the media that the exercise would be conducted at another location, the pilot came back and made another pass. This time, the pilot managed to land the Griffin helicopter 100 metres to the south of the original landing zone.

Although reporters were previously told that the action was going to be quick, the ERT squad wasn’t seen rushing into the target building.

“This is why we exercise,” Cote later explained to reporters. “We exercise because in real life things happen very rapidly.”

Asked why the ERT members were walking almost casually and didn’t act like they were responding in an emergency mode, Cote said: “Every situation is different. That’s the call of the ERT commander. The fact that they weren’t moving as fast as they could possibly given a certain situation was probably part of the exercise. I’m not familiar with all the details of the exercise.”