A four-day Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command (MAGIC) Course was held in Gibraltar last week and delivered by the UK’s College of Policing. The course was jointly organised by the Office of Civil Contingencies and the Royal Gibraltar Police. Course delegates comprised of senior commanders and officers from the Royal Gibraltar Police, Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service, Airport Fire & Rescue Service, Gibraltar Health Authority, HM Customs, Borders & Coastguard Agency, Office of Civil Contingencies, Ministry of the Environment, Royal Gibraltar Regiment, Royal Air Force (RAF) Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Defence Police. Prior to the commencement of the course, members of the Gibraltar Contingency Council received an executive briefing from the Course Director, Chief Superintendent Tony Brown and former Chief Fire Officer of Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service, Chris Lowther. 

The MAGIC course aimed to develop the delegates’ confidence, understanding and ability to perform the role of gold (strategic) commander by planning, implementing and reviewing a multi- agency strategy to ensure the timely resolution of a major incident or civil emergency. Delegates engaged in immersive learning exercises, facilitated discussions, and expert-led sessions, gaining a solid foundation to operate in a Strategic Coordinating Group. The course emphasized the importance of strategic coordination, effective communication, and leadership during major and critical incidents. Key learnings from recent UK Inquiries on major incidents including the 2017 Manchester Arena Attack, Grenfell Tower Fire and London Bridge Terror Attack were widely covered throughout the course. 

MAGIC Course Director, Chief Superintendent Tony 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.” 

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 (IPAS), our Civil Contingencies Coordinator, Lt Col (Retd) 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.”’