Colin McGowan, Director

Colin is the former Head of Planning for Strathclyde Police with responsibility for Emergencies Planning, Major Events, Commonwealth Games, Hostage Crisis Negotiations and Secretariat to the Strathclyde Emergencies Co-ordination Group (SECG).
 
In his role as Emergencies Planning Officer he has devised, developed and delivered detailed plans to address a particularly wide range of potential risks and threats; 
co-ordinated and facilitated training of those closely involved in responding to incidents at operational, tactical and strategic levels, developed and disseminated guidance on processes and procedures to mitigate the effect of emergency situations, locally and on behalf of the Association Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) as well as the Scottish Government resilience programme.

As an Emergency Procedures Advisor he has extensive experience, at an Operational Tactical and Strategic level, including deployment at the Stockline Plastics Explosion in Glasgow and most recently as the Emergencies Procedure Advisor to the Chief Constable during the 2007 terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport.
With considerable experience in the development, design and operational delivery of on-site and off-site co-ordination centres, his projects have included the Scottish Police Information and Co-ordination Centre  (S-PICC) for the G8 Summit, Hunterston Nuclear Power Station Off-site facility, Strathclyde Police Strategic and Tactical Co-ordination Centres.

As the Scottish Police Hostage Negotiator Co-ordinator, he contributed to UK-wide and international negotiation strategy and has been involved in a number of high profile incidents in Scotland and internationally.  This role also carried a training and quality assurance function in the form of Course Director of the Scottish Police Crisis Negotiator Course delivered on behalf of ACPOS at the Scottish Police College.

An accredited Security Co-ordinator (SECCO) he was responsible for providing a range of precautionary security measures in advance of high profile VIP visits.
In his role as Secretariat to the SECG, he provided strategic advice and counsel to Chair of the Group as well as Chief Executives, influencing the landscape of Civil Contingency management in Strathclyde, which led to the restructuring and transformation of the Group.

Since retiring from Strathclyde Police in 2009, he has undertaken a number of high profile projects on behalf of Scottish Resilience Development Service (SCORDS), including national debriefs of the Swine Flu Epidemic and Exercise Green Gate, a precursor to the UK National Counter Terrorism Exercise Programme.

He was extensively involved in the development and design of Strategic Training for the eight Strategic Co-ordination Group’s (SCG’s) in Scotland as well as developing and delivering training at a Tactical level to Category One and Two Responders across Scotland.  More recently he undertook the role as a Scottish Government Umpire, overseeing the response of the SECG during Exercise Castle Rock, which was an integral part of the UK National Counter Terrorism Exercise Programme.

Along with his fellow directors he has successfully delivered highly evaluated training with partners in the Resilience Arena, in particular, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, the Scottish Police College, Scottish Courts Service, East Ayrshire Council, the Civil Contingencies Service for Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and East Renfrewshire Councils delivering a range of specialist bespoke training courses.

An accomplished planner he has a wealth of knowledge, experience and success in planning for and delivering major events in Scotland.