Twenty years ago this week, all Scotland’s chief constables were checking, double- and triple-checking the multiple plans drawn up to ensure the safety and security of world leaders ahead of the 2005 G8 summit at Gleneagles.

The police operation was already in full swing. Perimeter security, the searching and sealing of every drain, culvert, lamppost, and conceivable hiding place had commenced weeks in advance. Escort drivers and riders familiarised themselves with primary and alternative routes to the point they could drive them blindfolded. Logistics teams hoped their meticulous planning would, at the very least, secure a clean bed and a hot meal for the thousands of officers descending on the Central Belt in the coming days.

The 2005 G8 summit was anticipated to draw some of the largest protests ever seen at such an event. In anticipation, thousands of officers had been extensively trained in crowd and riot control at the long-since abandoned Law Hospital in South Lanarkshire during the previous year. Everyone I know who undertook that training still describes it as among the best they ever received.

There is no question this was the biggest security event ever to face Scottish policing – and arguably one of the most significant peacetime security challenges ever faced across the UK. You can’t bring together the presidents of the United States, Russia, and France, the chancellor of Germany, and the prime ministers of Canada, Italy, Japan and the UK under one roof without inducing sweaty palms among those tasked not only with keeping them alive but ensuring they come to no harm whatsoever.

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© Herald Scotland