The public make more than 3,600 contributions to the fight against terror every day, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism police officer says.
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“Picking up people as they gravitate towards extremism early on, so we can intervene with social services and other agencies in a preventative way, is really important”. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
“With counter-terrorism there is the top-sliced money and the extra money for firearms officers, but that is once we’re having an attack”.
The deployment is the first in a larger effort to increase armed patrols across England and Wales, which together had about 127,000 police officers in 2015.
Explaining the work of the police, he pointed to the number of terror plots that had been foiled since the murder of Lee Rigby in May 2013 and added that the relationship between the police, MI5 and MI6 was a “world-beater” which has given the United Kingdom an intelligence advantage.
More armed police officers will be deployed in London to protect against the high threat of terrorism.
The operation is not based on a specific threat, but aimed at making London “as hostile an environment as possible” for any would-be attackers.
But the recent attacks underscore the challenge police face in responding to situations in which may be outgunned.
“We have substantial resources and a range of tactics that we can call on to protect them”.
“They’ve not changed but they are ready for the sorts of things we’ve seen throughout the rest of Europe”.
He said: “Some forces are getting volunteers coming forward, but they are not always being selected because they don’t meet the criteria”.
He added: “If there is an attack it is unlikely to be an isolated incident”.
“It is important we are prepared should the unthinkable happen”, Khan said.
Plans to boost the number of armed officers were put in place after 130 people were killed in Paris last November.
Europe has been hit with a wave of terrorism in recent years.
“If you have got a family member who starts to behave as if they are then tell the police”.
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He said the increase would improve “our firearms capacity significantly at a time of crisis” allowing the police to “confront the most awful of threats”.
