A naked man, an electric shield and mad parents: My 3am wake-up call for a Met Police raid
It’s personal for Kevin Chambers. He grew up in Mitcham and might have been a plumber if he wasn't sitting on a ‘ropey’ housing estate in Battersea when he heard the sound of a blue light speeding past. “I wonder what I would be doing right now if I was a police officer,” he thought, lighting a fire that would eventually replace the daily dread of fixing another u-bend.
Some years later, after joining Surrey Police in 2006 and transferring to the Met in 2008, ‘Kev’ found himself in Wandsworth, policing the same estate where he first got the itch. Now, more than 20 years into his career, he’s reached the rank of Inspector and at four o'clock on a Wednesday morning he’s primed to remind "a nasty bit of work" who the guv’nor is.
“The man we are going to today is a very violent individual,” Inspector Chambers says, “He sorted six of our officers. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t serious assaults, he was lashing out. But the sustained aggression from the moment we first met him to when he was released in custody… I have never met someone like that.”
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It’s January 29, and the acronym-loving Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has given the Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) enough firepower from the Territorial Support Group (TSG) to carry out 14 raids across Merton, Battersea, and Surrey.
Operation Hessian – presumably named after the German auxiliaries who fought on behalf of the British Army in the 18th century – was launched after a flurry of non-fatal gun incidents in Mitcham, some in broad daylight. In the last set of raids in August 2024, Inspector Chambers counted 12 firearms, 40 bladed weapons, £340,000 worth of drugs and over £85,000 of cash.
But it’s not just about the numbers. In the same week the Met moved out of special measures, having turned around extensive failings since 2022, Inspector Chambers wants to show Merton residents his neighbourhood policing team are listening to their concerns.
SNTs are constantly collecting intelligence, so whenever resources are pooled they are ready to strike, he explains. Raids are normally done in darkness, while the suspects are asleep, and within a short period of time, giving other suspects in the network no time to react. While the addresses are not known to be linked, they might be, and there is never a guarantee of what they will find.
“We get adrenaline for sure,” says Inspector Chambers, “The more you do, the better you get at it. There’s risk with rapid entry, but the element of surprise normally negates the risk because you barrel in there and get them down... The nerves are more: I want everyone to be safe. Even the people we are going after. We are trying to get them, but I don’t want them to come to harm.”
'You do not attack my officers'
In a Lidl carpark, which is the rendezvous point for the night, a Field Intelligence Officer (FIO), rests his laptop on a trolley with the light of the middle aisle glowing through the big glass windows. Bristling with excitement, he points to a map while explaining how not to mess it all up.
Effectively, the golden rules are: “If you find yourself in front of someone in a helmet, you have f**ked up," and: “Don’t make noise.”
After returning back to an unmarked BMW, Inspector Chambers explains why the TSG officers might be more tense than usual. "Outside of firearms, this is quite up there," he says, "He’s a violent person. Access to weapons like knives, and the dog as well."
Inspector Chambers hasn't mentioned a dog before. "Is it an XL Bully?" I ask. "No, it's a Tosa," he says.
The Japanese Tosa is a banned breed considered one of the most dangerous in the world with a bite force of 555 PSI, the equivalent of around 400kg through the dog’s jaw. Inspector Chambers seems reassuringly sanguine about it though.
“Most of the time when you do an entry like this, most of the time, the big bad dog will run and hide. Which is a relief to all of us, because they can be fatal.
“If all else fails, and this is horrible, we will call firearms. We will look to contain and dispose of it, as brutal as that sounds. But a dog can be extremely dangerous and do a lot of damage.”
As Inspector Chambers takes me through the non-fatal options for dealing with dogs, namely the electric shield and, oddly, a fire extinguisher, a man in shorts knocks on the window and whispers about a silver car going missing from outside the address.
The Inspector gulps.
In the carrier, the TSG officers look steeled, but they are also keen to show off their kit. The dog shield, which has a homemade quality to it, delivers 50,000 volts, the equivalent of a TASER.
“We can show you,” the shield man says. “I’m not sure I want to try it,” I say.
Opting not to electrocute me, the officers perform a non-contact demonstration, pushing a button that sends bolts of electricity flashing and crackling in the darkness. The shield’s owner explains the smell of the electricity will deter the dog. The sight is enough for me.
In the carrier another officer pulls on his gloves and helmet. “We are quite relaxed,” he says, “We do quite a lot of this. The risk with this one is higher than average. We are just focussing. We make sure we do everything safely and no officers get hurt.”
Then as the carrier pulls up, everything happens quickly. I make sure to stay behind the helmets and keep my camera steady with a hand over the screen to stop the glare alerting anyone of the approach.
I’m at the back of a long line of officers, maybe two dozen, all with extra armour on their arms and legs in anticipation of unfriendly jaws. As we creep closer, I can feel one of the officers shoving me from behind as I go through the downstairs door, encouraging me to get a better shot.
Then there is silence. The dog shield officer steadies himself at the top of the stairs while his colleague fixes a pneumatic ramming device to the doorframe. Another officer with a battering ram tiptoes around in front of the door, behind him an officer with PAVA spray, followed by another with a dog pole.
The battering ram isn't needed though, because the door cracks, swinging open as he prepares to take a shot. There are shouts of ‘POLICE WITH A WARRANT’, ‘HANDS IN THE AIR’, and ‘GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES’. At some point the dog pole is switched for a TASER and there are shouts of ‘WHERE'S THE DOG?’.
But the bark never comes. Instead a skinny man appears. He seems unhappy, and completely naked.
After the flat is cleared, Dave the press officer quips: “It’s always worse when you get your door knocked in like that, and you’re naked… and there’s people with cameras.”
Inside police find little more than a baseball bat, but Inspector Chambers remains upbeat.
“I won’t lie, I was very happy with that,” he says. “Right person to be going after anyway. The fact he’s not too recently assaulted six of my officers, I think that sends a nice message: You do not deal drugs. You do not attack my officers. He seemed to be feeling pretty sorry for himself.”
'It's personal to me'
On our way back to Lidl to wait for the next warrant, Inspector Chambers brings up a difficult topic for reporters and police officers.
“They can feel a little battered by the media,” he says, “But we are trying.” “Unfortunately, bad news sells better than good news,” Dave the press officer adds.
Inspector Chambers agrees: “What’s gonna sell better. A copper that’s done something bad, or a copper that’s done something good.”
The Inspector then explains how trust with the public allows officers to gather intelligence. The sort of intelligence needed to carry out raids like the one I am reporting on.
“What the Commissioner wants from neighbourhood police....we can keep going to meetings, but unless we can get there and tell them what we have done, they don’t wanna hear it. This sort of enforcement sends a message, builds intel, arresting people you can charge for offences, and lets the community know we are working for them.
“Generally we know what’s going on down our own street. This or that house is dodgy, etcetera. A big part of our work is to go out, talk, engage, sell what we do. What we have found is we are getting more intelligence when people start to see they are taking action.”
Inspector Chambers is determined to keep his patch one of London’s safest boroughs, which includes letting residents know they are targeting ‘baddies’ without making them feel ‘over-policed’.
“I grew up in Mitcham, so it’s personal to me,” he says. “I’m quite passionate about this role. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but you get an area and it’s your area. It’s taking it personally. If someone’s committing crime, I want to make their life hell. And if they are living a normal life, you want to make it better.”
Inspector Chambers hopes the raids might encourage some offenders to choose a different career, but he has little time for those who choose to carry on.
“We all get up in the morning and pay our bills. We do not break the law. We just get on with our lives. There’s other people who do not do that, and they face the consequences.”
'Mum and dad will have the right hump'
On the second warrant in a more deprived area of Merton, I almost slip on a drainpipe as another line of TSG officers sneak towards an unsuspecting suspect. They use the pneumatic device again. The pump hums as it works on the door, followed by a couple of cracks from splintering wood, then the sudden roar of ‘POLICE’ as the battering ram finishes the job.
This time a piercing shriek fills the cold winter night. “It’s never nice when it’s kids,” says Inspector Chambers as we sit in the car ten minutes later.
He's not so gleeful this time. Someone had a panic attack and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Instead of the suspect, police found two parents, a girlfriend, and two kids. The suspect was found at another address in Surrey.
“I can imagine mum and dad will have the right hump, I know I would,” Inspector Chambers says with a wry smile.
“I get no pleasure from seeing kids in that address, but he’s brought that to them. Kids will always get me a little bit. You do not want to do it, but it’s a necessary evil to long-term safeguard them.”
When we get to Starbucks for a coffee and debrief, Inspector Chambers speaks of his relief at the Met being moved out of special measures. Being judged to have fallen so low was seen as a humiliation by many, and it came off the back of a series of public scandals. But the force was judged to have made good progress after two years under extra scrutiny by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services.
“It feels good," says the Inspector, "We were in special measures for a reason. None of us have been resting on our laurels. A lot of work needed to be done and still needs to be done, but we acknowledged where we were failing and worked on that.
“I speak for SNT. There’s been a real drive for SNT and community crime fighting, propping safer neighbourhoods up.
“It’s nice to be centrally recognised and independently recognised. We are taking steps in the right direction.”
Got a tip, a court date, or some gossip? Please email callum.cuddeford@reachplc.com or WhatsApp 07580255582.
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