Behind-the-scenes in the police's Gold Command Centre for the G7 summit
This is where all the top level decisions about the summit are being made
Last updated 7th Jun 2021
With just a few days to go until the G7 summit kicks off in Cornwall we've been given a behind-the-scenes look at the police's Gold Command Centre.
This is where all the top level decisions are made for policing the event in Carbis Bay.
It's a quiet room at the end of a corridor, where different roles from across the blue light services are working together to ensure the safety of the world leaders and the general public.
That includes everything from the strategic overview, decisions on resourcing and also how best to deliver the policing.
Chief Inspector Russell Dawe is the Lead Planner for G7 policing and security and has been explaining to us how things work.
"Within Gold Command, this is overseen by ACC Glenn Mayhew, his role is to develop a strategy in relation to how we are going to deliver the G7, and working alongside our partners, to ensure there is a safe event undertaken throughout the next week.
"Within the Gold Command there are approximately 30 people, working alongside all of our partners, such as other blue light agencies, the military, and Cornwall Council, and the G7 planning team alongside the foreign and commonwealth development office.
"So Gold Command is around setting the strategy of how we're going to deliver it, alongside the resourcing, following on from that strategy the silver command, develops a tactical plan in relation to how we are going to deliver safe policing and security, and then our bronze commanders deliver that tactical plan out on the ground around Devon and Cornwall."
Chief Inspector Russell Dawe, Lead Planner for the G7
It is in the Silver Command Centre where a tactical plan to deliver the strategy is then put into place.
In a busy hub, with large computer screens of maps and information, a separate team are working hard behind the scenes to make sure the policing plan is implemented.
It is then down to the Bronze Command Centre team to deliver the plan in action on the ground, across Cornwall.
5,000 extra police officers are now descending on the the Duchy from every other police force across the country.
They have been brought in on mutual aid to help police the G7 and include a whole host of different expertise, from firearms to dog handlers to maritime roles.
"There is a significant undertaking because of the number of protected individuals who will be coming, as well as the environment that they're moving into, so we've been able to call on mutual aid and bring other police officers from all across the country to assist with policing of a safe and secure event."
Chief Inspector Russell Dawe, Lead Planner for the G7
But whilst all this is going on, Devon and Cornwall Police's main control centre will still be operating as normal.
That is where 999 calls come in, 101 calls are handled and the dispatch team is based.
With a dedicated team taking charge of all G7-related matters, contact officers will still be dealing with all the day-to-day calls and regular police work.
"We're fully prepared, we've got other officers and staff coming in from other forces, so in the control room for us it's business as usual, but we have got other officers and staff supporting us with the G7 demand that comes in also.
"We deal with absolutely everything that comes in, and anything that does relate to the G7 summit will go over to the control room that's been set up to be dealt with by the mutual aid staff."
Ryan, Contact Officer, Devon and Cornwall Police
With summer being in full swing, the control centre team are expecting a busy week and urge people to take extra care.
"We are very busy right across the force area, that's mainly because we're going into the summer period, the easing of lockdown, and obviously foreign holidays are no longer, so we've seen an increase in population coming into the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly area.
"We're very well prepared for busy times, we do it every year, this year is very much business as usual for us even though we've got the G7 on as well, that's been extremely well prepared, we've got extra officers working on our 999s and 101s, and within our temporary control room we set up for G7, where we've also got mutual aid."
Superintendent Jane Alford-Mole, Head of Contact Services
The G7 summit will be Devon and Cornwall Police's largest ever policing operation, and the biggest police operation in the UK this year, along with COP26.