Met prepares to unleash armed officers to patrol gang violence hotspots

SCOTLAND YARD is considering al- lowing armed officers to carry out short foot patrols in parts of London blighted by gang violence.

Under the proposals, officers who drive around the capital in armed response vehicles could be asked to go out on foot in notorious areas to combat or prevent extreme violence.

Cressida Dick, the Met Commissioner, denied it was a move towards routine armed foot patrols and insisted it was simply about using the highly trained response units effectively.

She said armed officers already supported stop-and-search operations where there was a risk of extreme violence, and described the move as a “small tactical change”.

Concern over violence in London is increasing, with more than 120 homicide investigations launched this year. Much of the violence is thought to be gang-related, and the Met is considering

how armed officers could be used to support the violent crime task force.

Ms Dick told the London Assembly that officers from armed response vehicles already regularly assisted unarmed colleagues at major incidents.

She added: “The possible proposal here is one half a step on from that, which is that if something truly ghastly has just happened or is about to happen, those officers who at the moment would stand next to their vehicles might take a very short foot patrol. This is a small change, potentially, in tactic in extreme circumstances.”

Ms Dick said operational decisions about the best use of officers had to be hers to make. She said the public and politicians were rightly interested in how armed police were used, but the proposal was far from a move to routinely deploy officers with guns.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the Met recognised that armed foot patrols would be a “significant change” which could have an impact on communities. Its independent community group, the Firearms and Taser Reference Group, had been asked for initial views, and no decision had been taken.

Armed foot patrols used in London in 2009 after a surge in gun crime were halted after the then mayor, Boris Johnson, said armed policing should be the “exception, not the norm”.