Claire Miller, Senior Public Safety Officer with The City of Edinburgh Council, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the King’s Honours List.
She has been recognised for “services in Scotland on the Demise of HM Queen Elizabeth II”.
Claire’s dedication, commitment and professionalism were instrumental to the success of Operation Unicorn (OU) in Edinburgh following the death of Her Majesty.
Claire’s day job with the council is to run the public safety side of events in the city such as the Torchlight Procession when crowds gather and somebody has to look after them.
She said however that the events in Edinburgh last September which were part of Operation Unicorn – the plans for what would happen if Her Majesty The Queen died in Scotland – were different, pointing out that there had been a great deal of planning even before she took up her post, although “when you get to the day things change and a lot is done on the hoof”.
Claire said: “I’ve never been part of anything like it where everybody was just pulling together and making it happen. It was actually amazing to be part of. And being in the control room, being at the centre of it all was brilliant.”
One of the surprising things Claire was asked during the few days when Her Late Majesty lay at rest in St Giles’ Cathedral was that “the King would like to meet the public”. She continued: “Of course we made it happen but you just wouldn’t think you’d ever get asked that in your life.”
She admitted that everyone was working long days, and often working late after one day’s events were over to ensure everything was in place for the next day.
She provided us with a photo of herself and you will see below that Claire is standing between her two colleagues – on the left Superintendent David Robertson (taking photo) and on the right an events professional and tactical adviser, David Watson from London who had worked with Claire before on major winter events in Edinburgh. She said: “The three of us were in the thick of it all the time, and it was great having the two of them. We were all in it together and helping each other. Even after getting home my mind was buzzing. When the events were over it was like someone had taken the batteries out, after all the adrenaline.”
While there were people in the control room watching the CCTV screens, Claire said they also “did a little bit of CCTV watching, but there was also a public safety team out on the streets, and we had crowd managers from Scottish Rugby who came in to help too in case people had to be rerouted at any time.”
As anyone who watched the news broadcasts of HM being brought to Edinburgh will know there was one street which stood out for locals, and that is Queensferry Street around the West End. Claire admitted the resurfacing work there was “slightly expedited just to get it finished”.
- She took over her role in early 2021 when the events industry was in a state of turmoil, due to Covid-19, and has dedicated herself to guiding her team and the wider events industry, in Edinburgh, back to cultural normality. This frequently involves extended hours, sacrificing time with her family, to facilitate events safely in Edinburgh.
- Central to her work is building effective relationships with key partners such as Police Scotland, the major cultural institutions, and other stakeholders in the city.
- She has led for the Council on anti-terror programmes, in particular ensuring widespread use of deterrents such as hostile vehicle mitigation or barriers on our streets. This has involved her working at the highest level nationally, and then leading Edinburgh based partners to adopt permanent and temporary measures.
- She took the challenge to heart, with a desire to deal with public safety risks and assumed responsibility for arranging Safety Advisory Groups, becoming the glue which held the city together both in planning and operational phases.
- Once the barriers were put in place she was the Council’s lead in the Police Scotland Control Centre, and it was Claire representing the council and the duty Superintendent for Police Scotland who managed the streets of the city throughout the period of the operation.
- She did so with huge commitment and worked round the clock to ensure Operation Unicorn was delivered to the highest degree of safety and security.
- She called in a few favours to muster volunteers and event practitioners while she herself was troubleshooting issues, managing information to senior leadership and ground staff, pulling together a crowd safety team and volunteer marshals all at short notice.
- Her role as a trusted partner would not have been possible without years of outstanding partnership working. Her professionalism was the bedrock of allowing the Scottish capital to pay an appropriate tribute to Her Majesty.
