Anti-terror chief tells police: Don’t go out on the streets alone
AS MET DEPLOY HUNDREDS MORE ARMED OFFICERS
POLICE were last night urged to patrol in pairs for their own safety amid rising fears of a terrorist plot to murder an officer on UK streets.
The advice was issued by the nation’s counter-terrorism chief as it was revealed that hundreds of extra firearms officers will be deployed across London.
Fears of an attack in Britain were raised after the atrocities in France that left 17 dead, among them three police officers.
And they intensified last week when Belgian commandos killed Islamic State (IS) fanatics who wanted to behead a policeman or judge in a plot echoing the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the national police lead for counter-terrorism, has now advised force chiefs in England and Wales to ‘review the safety and security of staff’ urgently – and to abandon lone patrols where necessary.
In response, the country’s biggest force, the Met, has adopted dual patrols as policy – something previously considered a luxury.
Police Scotland confirmed last night it, too, has issued guidance to officers over personal safety – especially while out on patrol.
With resources stretched, Home Secretary Theresa May had previously encouraged forces to let officers take to the streets alone.
The reversal will be welcomed by London’s frontline officers who have felt increasingly in danger, amid warnings from Islamists that uniformed police or soldiers would be targets for terror attacks.
Some officers have spoken of concern that they have been subject to ‘hostile reconnaissance’ in the vicinity of police stations when travelling to or from work. It led to calls for them to be allowed to carry protective equipment such as CS spray and batons while off-duty.
Mr Rowley has advised officers not to go to and from work in ‘halfblue’ – wearing part of their uniform often hidden under a jacket – instead asking them to adopt purely civilian clothes while travelling.
In October, a court heard four men charged with a terror plot had allegedly sworn allegiance to IS and planned to murder police or soldiers in a drive-by shooting in London.
It was claimed they carried out ‘reconnaissance’ of Shepherd’s Bush police station in West London and a barracks in nearby White City.
Yesterday, as Europe remained on high alert, it was revealed that hundreds of extra firearms officers were being deployed across London, which already has 2,700 heavilyequipped officers authorised to carry guns. Scotland Yard is also likely to double the number of its officers carrying Tasers from 2,500 to 5,000. Officers have been given a four-page document with advice on safety measures. It urges caution, for instance, when using social media accounts.
Meanwhile, Britain’s border forces have stepped up security checks to prevent automatic weapons, such as those used in Paris, from entering the country.
Security sources say the French cities of Marseilles and Toulouse have become a ‘hotbed’ for high-powered assault rifles in recent years.
‘France in particular has seen a huge expansion in the number of weapons on the streets, and there is no guarantee they won’t end up here,’ said a source.
The Charlie Hebdo killers possessed an array of weaponry almost unthinkable on the streets of Britain. It included a Czech-made Skorpion sub-machine gun, several Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles, Tokarev pistols, an M82 grenade launcher and hand grenades.
Border checks at the Channel have so far kept Britain relatively free of such hardware, but security chiefs admit that there are now so many in Europe that they are more likely to be smuggled into the country.
Officials say as many as 10million weapons could be in illegal circulation across the EU and say an assault rifle can be bought for under £1,000 on the black market and handguns for half that amount.
Many are understood to come from Eastern Europe and the former Yugoslav republics as well as from the Middle East and North Africa. Last night, immigration and security Minister James Brokenshire said: ‘This Government is doing more than any previous Government to disrupt organised crime and protect the security of the border.’