Met gives Viper unit ‘less aggressive’ name
Officers tackling gun crime to be known as Proactive Armed Team as part of rebrand after Casey Review
‘I do not have a problem with using aggressive names for units that are tackling criminals’
SCOTLAND YARD has renamed one of its units that tackles violent gun crime to make it sound less aggressive, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Operation Viper will be rebranded as the Proactive Armed Team, after Met bosses expressed concern that the association with venomous snakes portrayed the wrong image. The renaming of the unit, which was established to address the rise in gun crime across London, comes in the wake of the Casey Review, which accused the Met of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, and warned that the force had lost the trust of the public it policed.
Operation Viper, set up in 2016, carries out targeted intelligence-led operations in areas where there are reports of gun violence and activity.
When launched, the unit was assisted by officers from firearms response units, who carried a handgun or pistol and a semi-automatic carbine or semiautomatic compact rifle. A source said it was decided that Operation Viper sounded too aggressive and militaristic, and Proactive Armed Team was a better reflection of what it did.
Other Met units are also being considered for rebranding, including Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PADP), where Wayne Couzens and David Carrick worked. A rebrand was considered necessary because of the toxic association with Sarah Everard’s killer and the serial rapist.
There has also been discussion over whether the Metropolitan Police itself should be renamed in an effort to restore public confidence. Susan Hall, outgoing leader of the City Hall Conservatives and a member of the Policing and Crime Committee, said: “I assume they have got their reasons, but a mobile phone is stolen every six minutes, burglaries are not being solved. It is all a bit ridiculous and raises questions about priorities.
“I do not have a problem with the police using aggressive names for units that are going out and tackling dangerous criminals. These men and women are going out to face armed villains.
“We have got a situation where the people who should not fear the police are frightened to death of them and those who should fear them do not.”
A Met source said: “It has been decided that name changes might make a difference to trust and confidence, so that is what is happening.”
In London, over the Coronation weekend, four people were shot in three separate incidents. In all three shootings, the victims were sitting in cars when a gunman approached and opened fire. It is understood that none of the incidents were linked.
The first incident, which occurred in Mitcham, late on Saturday night, resulted in a man receiving a gunshot wound to his back, which was not believed to be life-threatening.
The following day, just after 6pm, a man was shot in Peckham. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Less than three hours later in Bow, east London, there was another shooting, which left two men aged 66 and 21 suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.