Advertisement

London could get £50m armed police base to tackle terrorism

Armed Met officers after the Westminster attack
Armed Met officers after the Westminster attack in March. Photograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images

A new £50m base for armed police officers in London is one of a series of measures being proposed to protect the public from terrorist attacks.

The base, planned for Limehouse in the east of the capital, would house at least 200 officers and contain a firing range, weapons storage and other facilities, it is understood.

Details of the plans, which have been submitted by the Metropolitan police to the mayor’s office for police and crime (Mopac), emerged as the force announced it had begun an eight-week trial using drones to support its operations. Steel-spiked road mats, designed to prevent vehicles being driven into crowds, are also being rolled out across the capital at major events.

An Aeryon Skyranger drone, the type being trialled by the Met
An Aeryon Skyranger drone, the type being trialled by the Met. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA

The Met’s deputy commissioner, Craig Mackey, said the force needed new sites for its armed officers and had already built a new firearms range at Hendon, north London. A new base at Limehouse would make it easier to ensure officers were easily available to tackle terrorist incidents and other crimes where guns were suspected to be involved.

“The firearms range at Hendon is up [and running],” Mackey told the Evening Standard. “As we redevelop in the east of London we are looking at a similar type of capability at Limehouse. That’s about making sure we can keep those officers trained, accredited, and up to the standards they need to be, and available.”

The projected £50m cost is an estimate and the eventual bill could be higher or lower. The Met has continued to expand firearms capability and is recruiting 600 extra armed officers, bringing its total to 2,800 armed officers. The increase, of more than one-third, was ordered last year prior to the London Bridge, Westminster, Finsbury Park and Manchester Arena attacks.

Other non-firearms officers would also be stationed at Limehouse, the Standard reported, which if approved would be built as part of a wider five-year overhaul of the Met’s property portfolio, under which more than 250 buildings will be disposed of and a small number of new stations developed to take their place.

“You will see buildings that are multifunctional, that have uniform operations officers, custody facilities, where we put road policing units, that’s the sort of thing that Limehouse will be,” Mackey said.

The Met said in a statement: “The development of a policing building in Limehouse (to include a new firearms base) is one of the proposals that the Metropolitan Police Service has submitted to Mopac in developing the plans for the joint Met/Mopac estate for 2017-21.”

The force announced on Monday it had begun the trial of unmanned aerial vehicles to support its operations. The drone used, an Aeryon Skyranger, is on loan from Sussex police.

With its primary purpose similar to that of the police helicopter, it will be used in incidents such as high-risk missing persons cases, serious traffic collisions, searches for suspects, weapon sweeps and identification of cannabis factories.

It will also provide aerial support for planned and spontaneous firearms operations and surveying premises, as well as providing live footage of operational deployments to assist ground commanders’ decision making.

Steel-spiked road mats, called “Talon”, are also to become a familiar sight. Able to stop a vehicle weighing up to 17 tonnes, they are made up of a net covered in tungsten steel spikes that puncture the tyres of any vehicle. The net then becomes entangled around the front wheels of the car or van.

Talon, which can be deployed by two officers in less than a minute, was used for the first time on Sunday at the Naval Association Parade on Whitehall.

Ch Insp Nick Staley of the Met’s protective security operations unit said: “This equipment undoubtedly has the potential to save lives and is just one of a number of measures being taken to provide protection to crowds attending major events in London and reassuring businesses, workers and visitors as they go about their daily lives.”