Difference between revisions of "Peter Power"
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| − | [[Image:Thumbnail.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Peter Power]]Peter Power, a former Scotland Yard | + | [[Image:Thumbnail.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Peter Power]]Peter Power, a former Scotland Yard police officer and Dorset police .He was Managing Director of [[Visor Consultants Limited]] between 1995 and 2019.<ref name="CompHouse">[https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06497980/filing-history Visor Consulting] no date, (accessed 10 March 2020).</ref> |
| − | Visor Consultants | + | Visor Consultants worked to prepare organisations for risks and threats they might face. According to Workplace Law Network it uses scenario-based exercises to prepare as well as crisis management and business continuity workshops, corporate resilience courses and motivation sessions. <ref>Workplace Law Network http://www.workplacelaw.net/profiles/affiliate/id/68 accessed 14 February 2008</ref> |
| − | == | + | ==Police Career== |
| − | + | Power worked with the [[Metropolitan Police]] from 1971 until 1990. During his service, he was a sergeant with the [[Special Patrol Group]], which became a focus for complaints about police tactics during the 1981 [[Brixton Riots]].<ref>BBC News, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/4894866.stm Brixton ablaze: 25 years on], 10 April 2006, (accessed 3 November 2010). </ref> He was later seconded to the [[Anti Terrorist Branch]] and was the deputy forward control coordinator at the [[Libyan People's Bureau]] siege in 1984, and 'led the team behind the existing police street philosophy for dealing with terrorist bombs.'<ref> Visor Consulting, [http://www.visorconsultants.com/businesscontinuityteam.htm Peter Power, Managing Director], accessed 3 November 2010. </ref> | |
| + | Power also coordinated the emergency services efforts at the [[Kings Cross Fire]] in November 1987, in which 27 people died. <ref> Peter Power [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/november/18/newsid_3267000/3267833.stm Witness], BBC News, 18 November 2005. </ref> In 1990, he joined Dorset Police but retired three years later as a Superintendent, whilst under suspension for a unknown 'internal' disciplinary matter.<ref>Paul Thomas,''Dorset Echo'' Police chief faces inquiry, 23 April 1993 (accessed 10 March 2020).</ref> | ||
| − | + | ==Terror expert== | |
| − | ==7/7 London Bombings drill | + | Power has appeared regularly on television and radio news programmes in connection with terrorism and security items. Between 2000 and 2007 he was mentioned as a terror expert in 119 articles according to an analysis of 'major world newspapers' by David Miller and Tom Mills. <ref> David and Mills, Tom(2009) 'The terror experts and the mainstream media: the expert nexus and its dominance in the news media', Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2: 3, 414 — 437 </ref> |
| − | On 7th July 2005, the day of the [[London bombings]], Peter Power was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Drive Time show. | + | |
| + | ==7/7 London Bombings terror drill: unfounded conspiracy theory== | ||
| + | On 7th July 2005, the day of the [[London bombings]], Peter Power was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Drive Time show. Listen to [http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3 Peter Power's Radio 5 Live Drivetime Interview] <ref> MP3 of BBC Radio 5 Live interview available at: http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3, accessed 3 November 2010. </ref> | ||
:Power told the host that at the exact same time that the London bombings were taking place, his company was running a 1,000 person strong exercise which drilled the London Underground being bombed at the exact same locations, at the exact same times, as happened in real life.<ref>We Are Change UK http://100777.com/node/1789 accessed on 14 February 2008</ref> | :Power told the host that at the exact same time that the London bombings were taking place, his company was running a 1,000 person strong exercise which drilled the London Underground being bombed at the exact same locations, at the exact same times, as happened in real life.<ref>We Are Change UK http://100777.com/node/1789 accessed on 14 February 2008</ref> | ||
| Line 15: | Line 18: | ||
:Power was quoted as saying "At half past nine this morning we were actually running an exercise for a company of over a thousand people in London based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this morning, so I still have the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now"<ref>Prison Planet http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Jul05/160705web_of_deceit.html accessed 14 February 2008</ref> | :Power was quoted as saying "At half past nine this morning we were actually running an exercise for a company of over a thousand people in London based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this morning, so I still have the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now"<ref>Prison Planet http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Jul05/160705web_of_deceit.html accessed 14 February 2008</ref> | ||
| − | + | Power's admission was cited by some conspiracy groups as evidence of the UK government's involvement in a cover-up of the 7/7 bombings. In 2008 Power posted a response to a blog on the [[J7 Truth Campaign]]'s website pointing out that the coincidence of the terror rehearsals was not all that suprising. | |
| − | + | :"Early in 2005 [[Reed Elsevier]], an organisation specialising in information and publishing that employs 1000 people in and around London, asked us to help them prepare an effective crisis management plan and rehearse it before sign-off. Several draft scenarios were drawn up and the crisis team themselves set the exercise date and time: 9.00am on 7 July." | |
| + | |||
| + | :The test was planned as a table-top walk through for about six people (the CM team) in a lecture room with all injects simulated. Everything was on MS PowerPoint. The location of their Central London office near to Chancery Lane was chosen as one test site. With many staff travelling to work via the London underground system, the chosen exercise simulated incendiary devices on three trains, very similar to a real IRA attack in 1992, as well as other events. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :As there had been eighteen terrorist bomb attacks on tube trains prior to 2005, choosing the London Underground was logical rather than just prescient. With this in mind it was hardly surprising that [[Deutsche Bank]] had run a similar exercise a few days before and, prior to that, a multi-agency (and much publicised) exercise code-named [[Osiris II]] had simulated a terrorist attack at Bank tube station. Moreover, I had also taken part in a BBC Panorama programme in 2004 as a panelist alongside [[Michael Portillo]] MP et al, in an unscripted debate (we had no idea at all what the scenario was to be?) on how London might once again, deal with terrorist attacks, only this time it was fictional (created entirely by the BBC). | ||
| + | |||
| + | :In short, some of the research for our exercise had already been done. The scenario developed for our client even started by using fictitious news items from the..<ref> July 7th Independent People's Inquiry Forum,[http://z13.invisionfree.com/julyseventh/index.php?s=ed023ae59502f7f44f02be3f49adbe9c&showtopic=350&st=196&#entry14733746 Peter Power / Visor Drill on July 7th, 'an exercise involving mock broadcasts'],P Power, Homepage, 09.30.08, 10:13am, accessed 3 November 2010. </ref>[?] Panorama programme then, as with any walk through exercise, events unfolded solely on a screen as dictated by the facilitator without any external injects or actions beyond the exercise room. Also factored into the scenario was to be an above ground fictitious bomb exploding not far from the head office of the protected Jewish Chronicle magazine where for exercise purposes, our imagined terrorists would have been aware that commuters would now be walking to work (past a building already considered a target) as some tube stations would have been closed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :Of just eight nearby tube stations that fell within possible exercise's scope, three were chosen that, by coincidence, were involved in the awful drama that actually took place on 7 July 2005. A level of scenario validation that on this occasion, we could have done without. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :An exercise that turns into the real thing is not that unusual. For example, in January 2003, thirty people were injured when a tube train derailed and hit a wall at speed. At the same time, the City of London Police were running an exercise for their central casualty bureau where the team quickly abandoned their plans and swung into action to cope with the real thing.' <ref> July 7th Independent People's Inquiry Forum,[http://z13.invisionfree.com/julyseventh/index.php?showtopic=350&st=196&#entry14748588 Peter Power / Visor Drill on July 7th, 'an exercise involving mock broadcasts': 3 October 2008 addition],P Power, Homepage, 03.10.08, accessed 3 November 2010. </ref> | ||
| + | ] | ||
==Affiliations== | ==Affiliations== | ||
| − | <ref> | + | *[[World Conference on Disaster Management]] - programme director <ref> WCDM Summit Series, [http://www.wcdm.org/London/meetings-and-events.html Contact], accessed 3 November 2010 </ref> |
*[[Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness]] -special adviser | *[[Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness]] -special adviser | ||
*[[BC Institute London Forum]] -special adviser | *[[BC Institute London Forum]] -special adviser | ||
| Line 32: | Line 46: | ||
*[[Guild of Freemen of the City of London]]- member | *[[Guild of Freemen of the City of London]]- member | ||
* Award winner for BC ‘Personality of the Year’ 2000 and ‘Lifetime Achievement’ 2006 | * Award winner for BC ‘Personality of the Year’ 2000 and ‘Lifetime Achievement’ 2006 | ||
| + | <ref> Visor Consultants [http://www.visorconsultants.com/businesscontinuityteam.htm Peter Power, Managing Director], accessed 3 November 2010. </ref> | ||
==Resources== | ==Resources== | ||
| − | + | *7/7 London bombings emergency drill rehearsal coincidence.[http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3 Peter Power's Radio 5 Live Drivetime Interview] <ref> MP3 of BBC Radio available at: http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3, accessed 3 November 2010. </ref> | |
| − | |||
| + | ==Contact== | ||
| + | *Website: http://www.visorconsultants.com/default.htm | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
Latest revision as of 15:25, 10 March 2020
Peter Power, a former Scotland Yard police officer and Dorset police .He was Managing Director of Visor Consultants Limited between 1995 and 2019.[1]
Visor Consultants worked to prepare organisations for risks and threats they might face. According to Workplace Law Network it uses scenario-based exercises to prepare as well as crisis management and business continuity workshops, corporate resilience courses and motivation sessions. [2]
Contents
Police Career
Power worked with the Metropolitan Police from 1971 until 1990. During his service, he was a sergeant with the Special Patrol Group, which became a focus for complaints about police tactics during the 1981 Brixton Riots.[3] He was later seconded to the Anti Terrorist Branch and was the deputy forward control coordinator at the Libyan People's Bureau siege in 1984, and 'led the team behind the existing police street philosophy for dealing with terrorist bombs.'[4] Power also coordinated the emergency services efforts at the Kings Cross Fire in November 1987, in which 27 people died. [5] In 1990, he joined Dorset Police but retired three years later as a Superintendent, whilst under suspension for a unknown 'internal' disciplinary matter.[6]
Terror expert
Power has appeared regularly on television and radio news programmes in connection with terrorism and security items. Between 2000 and 2007 he was mentioned as a terror expert in 119 articles according to an analysis of 'major world newspapers' by David Miller and Tom Mills. [7]
7/7 London Bombings terror drill: unfounded conspiracy theory
On 7th July 2005, the day of the London bombings, Peter Power was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Drive Time show. Listen to Peter Power's Radio 5 Live Drivetime Interview [8]
- Power told the host that at the exact same time that the London bombings were taking place, his company was running a 1,000 person strong exercise which drilled the London Underground being bombed at the exact same locations, at the exact same times, as happened in real life.[9]
- Power was quoted as saying "At half past nine this morning we were actually running an exercise for a company of over a thousand people in London based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this morning, so I still have the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now"[10]
Power's admission was cited by some conspiracy groups as evidence of the UK government's involvement in a cover-up of the 7/7 bombings. In 2008 Power posted a response to a blog on the J7 Truth Campaign's website pointing out that the coincidence of the terror rehearsals was not all that suprising.
- "Early in 2005 Reed Elsevier, an organisation specialising in information and publishing that employs 1000 people in and around London, asked us to help them prepare an effective crisis management plan and rehearse it before sign-off. Several draft scenarios were drawn up and the crisis team themselves set the exercise date and time: 9.00am on 7 July."
- The test was planned as a table-top walk through for about six people (the CM team) in a lecture room with all injects simulated. Everything was on MS PowerPoint. The location of their Central London office near to Chancery Lane was chosen as one test site. With many staff travelling to work via the London underground system, the chosen exercise simulated incendiary devices on three trains, very similar to a real IRA attack in 1992, as well as other events.
- As there had been eighteen terrorist bomb attacks on tube trains prior to 2005, choosing the London Underground was logical rather than just prescient. With this in mind it was hardly surprising that Deutsche Bank had run a similar exercise a few days before and, prior to that, a multi-agency (and much publicised) exercise code-named Osiris II had simulated a terrorist attack at Bank tube station. Moreover, I had also taken part in a BBC Panorama programme in 2004 as a panelist alongside Michael Portillo MP et al, in an unscripted debate (we had no idea at all what the scenario was to be?) on how London might once again, deal with terrorist attacks, only this time it was fictional (created entirely by the BBC).
- In short, some of the research for our exercise had already been done. The scenario developed for our client even started by using fictitious news items from the..[11][?] Panorama programme then, as with any walk through exercise, events unfolded solely on a screen as dictated by the facilitator without any external injects or actions beyond the exercise room. Also factored into the scenario was to be an above ground fictitious bomb exploding not far from the head office of the protected Jewish Chronicle magazine where for exercise purposes, our imagined terrorists would have been aware that commuters would now be walking to work (past a building already considered a target) as some tube stations would have been closed.
- Of just eight nearby tube stations that fell within possible exercise's scope, three were chosen that, by coincidence, were involved in the awful drama that actually took place on 7 July 2005. A level of scenario validation that on this occasion, we could have done without.
- An exercise that turns into the real thing is not that unusual. For example, in January 2003, thirty people were injured when a tube train derailed and hit a wall at speed. At the same time, the City of London Police were running an exercise for their central casualty bureau where the team quickly abandoned their plans and swung into action to cope with the real thing.' [12]
]
Affiliations
- World Conference on Disaster Management - programme director [13]
- Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness -special adviser
- BC Institute London Forum -special adviser
- UK Register of Expert Witnesses
- University of Reading - occasional lecturer
- University of Southampton - occasional lecturer
- Chartered Management Institute - fellow
- Business Continuity Institute - fellow
- Emergency Planning Society - fellow
- Institute of Risk Management - member
- Guild of Freemen of the City of London- member
- Award winner for BC ‘Personality of the Year’ 2000 and ‘Lifetime Achievement’ 2006
Resources
- 7/7 London bombings emergency drill rehearsal coincidence.Peter Power's Radio 5 Live Drivetime Interview [15]
Contact
Notes
- ↑ Visor Consulting no date, (accessed 10 March 2020).
- ↑ Workplace Law Network http://www.workplacelaw.net/profiles/affiliate/id/68 accessed 14 February 2008
- ↑ BBC News, Brixton ablaze: 25 years on, 10 April 2006, (accessed 3 November 2010).
- ↑ Visor Consulting, Peter Power, Managing Director, accessed 3 November 2010.
- ↑ Peter Power Witness, BBC News, 18 November 2005.
- ↑ Paul Thomas,Dorset Echo Police chief faces inquiry, 23 April 1993 (accessed 10 March 2020).
- ↑ David and Mills, Tom(2009) 'The terror experts and the mainstream media: the expert nexus and its dominance in the news media', Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2: 3, 414 — 437
- ↑ MP3 of BBC Radio 5 Live interview available at: http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3, accessed 3 November 2010.
- ↑ We Are Change UK http://100777.com/node/1789 accessed on 14 February 2008
- ↑ Prison Planet http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Jul05/160705web_of_deceit.html accessed 14 February 2008
- ↑ July 7th Independent People's Inquiry Forum,Peter Power / Visor Drill on July 7th, 'an exercise involving mock broadcasts',P Power, Homepage, 09.30.08, 10:13am, accessed 3 November 2010.
- ↑ July 7th Independent People's Inquiry Forum,Peter Power / Visor Drill on July 7th, 'an exercise involving mock broadcasts': 3 October 2008 addition,P Power, Homepage, 03.10.08, accessed 3 November 2010.
- ↑ WCDM Summit Series, Contact, accessed 3 November 2010
- ↑ Visor Consultants Peter Power, Managing Director, accessed 3 November 2010.
- ↑ MP3 of BBC Radio available at: http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/media/r5.live.peter.power.exercise.mp3, accessed 3 November 2010.
