Gold Commander

A gold–silver–bronze command structure is used by emergency services of the United Kingdom to establish a hierarchical framework for the command and control of major incidents and disasters. The so-called "platinum control" is government level (COBR).

Some practitioners use the term strategic–tactical–operational command structure instead, but the different categories are equivalent.

The three roles are not restricted to any rank, though invariably the chain of command will be the same as the order of rank. Whilst the gold–silver–bronze command structure was designed for emergencies, it has been utilised for all manner of planned operations, such as football matches, or firearms operations, such as Operation Kratos.

The structure was created by the Metropolitan Police Service, as a direct response to the Broadwater Farm riot. The riot broke out in North London on 6 October 1985 and led to the murder of PC Keith Blakelock.

The Metropolitan Police realised that their usual rank-based command system was inappropriate for sudden events. For example, it was never clear who was actually in operational charge of the police response on the night of the riot. A small team, including Inspector Peter Power, quickly decided that three essential roles were more important than numerous ranks in these situations. They set about creating and implementing a new structure that could be used. The "Gold–silver–bronze" naming was coined by David Stevens, a Chief Superintendent in the Public Order Branch who also worked on Power's team.

The structure soon spread to other police forces and to other emergency services. Though originally devised for the response to sudden incidents, it has also been used for pre-planned operations.

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