Interpol gives Olympics clean slate

ATHENS, Greece — Interpol has detected “no threats” against the Olympics, but authorities must maintain vigilance until the games are over, the head of the police organization said Tuesday.

The assessment by Interpol’s secretary-general, Ronald Noble, backs up claims by Greek officials that the Olympics are not considered a prime target for a strike by al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.

Noble said officials from the agency’s 181-member nations have picked up “no information that talks about or concerns any potential terrorist attacks.”

“There are … no threats or evidence of threats against the Athens Olympics,” Noble told the Associated Press following meetings with Greek authorities as part of groundbreaking security cooperation between the agency and the host nation.

But Noble advised that Olympic security planners must remain “vigilant every second of every day. “In today’s world, prudence requires us to recognize that terrorists could attack at any point in time and any place in time,” he said.

The Aug. 13-29 Olympics represent an important milestone in Interpol’s reorganization following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Three Interpol envoys will be based in Athens during August to provide information of potential terrorist suspects, stolen documents and other police issues “in a matter of seconds” through a new encrypted database, Noble said.

At the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, Interpol had just one liaison who acted mostly as an observer.

“We’ve been working our way up to this level,” said Noble, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief law enforcement officer in the U.S. Treasury Department.

The Interpol team is part of the most costly security effort in Olympic history — costing more than $1.2 billion and involving more than 70,000 Greek police and soldiers.

Greece is also being assisted by a seven-nation security task force that includes the United States and Britain.

Greek authorities plan to impose full Olympic-level security measures at venues beginning Thursday.

Greeks lend police officers

Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos has lent 20 members of his police guard to help make up for a shortfall in officers assigned to protect Olympic sites, the government said.

The public order ministry has asked political parties, members of parliament and other public figures to give up a number of their police escorts so that an additional 600 officers are available for the Aug. 13-29 games, the government said.

Massive Olympic security measures begin to take effect on Thursday — with a heightened presence at airports and other sensitive sites — and will eventually involve 70,000 police and soldiers.

“I thanked the president very much … his action is very important,” Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis said. Voulgarakis made the plea for extra police in parliament last week after discovering the shortfall.

Olympic security costs could top $1.2 billion, with the government investing heavily in training and surveillance equipment.

Lending a hand

A temporary open-air elevator will be installed at the ancient Acropolis to help people with disabilities visit the site during the Olympics and Paralympics.

The elevator, which will resemble those used at construction sites, will be installed at a second entrance to the Acropolis and lift people to an area near the ancient Erechtheion, said Yiannis Polichroniou, who is in charge of the culture ministry’s department for accessibility to monuments.

The Erechtheion, located in the northern part of the Acropolis, is one of the site’s better known monuments with a distinctive porch supported by statues of young women.

“We hope by the beginning of August to have it in place,” Polichroniou told the Associated Press.

The Olympics run from Aug. 13-29 and the Paralympics from Sept. 17-28.