London’s police force puts more armed officers on streets

United Kingdom police are treating the prospect of an attempted extremist attack on home soil as an inevitability said the head of the Metropolitan police, The Guardian reports.

Speaking in Hyde Park, Sir Bernard said: “People aren’t fools – they know that in the event that there is a firearms attack, we are going to have to respond with firearms”.

Mr Khan said: “It’s really important that Londoners are reassured that the police service, that the security service, that all of us are doing our bit to keep Londoners in our city safe”.

“I am afraid I can not do that entirely”.

There are five terrorism threat levels in the United Kingdom and they are set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and the Security Service – MI5.

“Our threat level has been at “severe” for two years – it remains there”. And though numerous terror plots have said to have been foiled by intelligence agencies, small-scale attacks, like the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in May 2013, have still occurred.

It also emerged that extremists will be forced to go through a “deradicalisation” programme in a major overhaul of Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy.

More armed police officers will be deployed in London to protect against the high threat of terrorism.

The rolling out of Operation Hercules brings the the total number of armed officers in the capital to 2,800. Last November, terrorist attacks in Paris claimed the lives of 130 people.

“They pass through airports where we have armed officers, they pass through railway stations where they see firearms”.

An armed police officer patrols ahead of the arrival of members of Britain’s royal family to a service of thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday at St Paul’s cathedral in London, Britain, June 10, 2016. Rowley was emphasising official advice from the UK’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office, which stresses that people under attack should run or hide, rather than submit to their assailants’ demands. They do this knowing that their split second decision making will be scrutinised in post-incident investigations that can sometimes last many years.

“I own you” Former BHS employee reveals shop floor bust up when Sir Philip Green asked her ‘Do you know who I am?’

“These can feel like dark and desperate times, I feel that too sometimes, but defeating this terrorism is as much about refusing to be afraid as anything else”.