UK’s College of Policing delivers multi-agency incident command course in Gibraltar

A four-day Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command (MAGIC) course was recently delivered in Gibraltar by the UK’s College of Policing. The course was jointly organised by the Office of Civil Contingencies and the Royal Gibraltar Police.

Senior commanders and officers from several organisations took part in the training, including the Royal Gibraltar Police, Gibraltar Fire and Rescue Service, Airport Fire and Rescue Service, Gibraltar Health Authority, HM Customs, Borders and Coastguard Agency, Office of Civil Contingencies, Ministry of the Environment, Royal Gibraltar Regiment, Royal Air Force Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Defence Police.

Prior to the start of the course, members of the Gibraltar Contingency Council attended an executive briefing delivered by the course director, Chief Superintendent Tony Brown, and former Chief Fire Officer of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Chris Lowther.

The MAGIC course aimed to develop participants’ confidence, understanding and ability to perform the role of gold (strategic) commander in managing major incidents or civil emergencies.
Delegates engaged in immersive learning exercises, facilitated discussions and expert-led sessions, gaining skills to operate within a Strategic Coordinating Group.

The course placed particular emphasis on strategic coordination, communication, and leadership during critical incidents. It also included key learnings from recent UK inquiries into the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, the Grenfell Tower fire and the London Bridge terror attack.

Chief Superintendent Brown said: “It was a great privilege to be invited to Gibraltar to deliver a MAGIC course, and to meet with senior politicians and leaders at an executive briefing session.”

“The four-day course saw strategic leaders from Gibraltar emergency and public services come together to be trained in effective strategic management of major incident situations, with a specific focus on close multi-agency working.”

“The level of engagement, professionalism and enthusiasm demonstrated by all the course delegates was something that they should all be extremely proud of and made delivery of the course and the multi-agency exercise a hugely rewarding experience for everyone involved.”

“The course allowed for in-depth discussions around numerous challenges that may present during real-life emergency situations, and the level of mature engagement and discussion was excellent.”

“HM Government of Gibraltar can be proud of the effort and dedication demonstrated by all of the delegates and assured that the course was able to deliver improvements in the collective engagement of all agencies required to prepare for, respond to and recover from major emergencies.”

The Minister for Civil Contingencies, Leslie Bruzon, said: “MAGIC underscores Gibraltar's continued commitment to preparedness and excellence in emergency response where the safety and well-being of our community is of paramount importance.”

“By adopting the latest best practice in emergency management and by bringing together senior officers across multiple services and agencies, it strengthens collaboration, leadership, and strategic command during critical incidents.”

“I am hugely grateful to both Chief Superintendent Tony Brown and former Chief Fire Officer Chris Lowther for delivering the College of Policing’s flagship command course.”

“I must also thank the Home Office International Police Assistance Service, our Civil Contingencies Coordinator, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Ivor Lopez, and Superintendent Paul Chipolina for their work in facilitating this course.”

“Gibraltar now has an additional 18 trained and accredited Gold Commanders and we will, quite rightly, continue working towards increasing our pool of Gold commanders on an annual basis.”