Meet Scotland yard's new Counter-Terrorism firearms officers

[Vergennes]

@waz @mike2000 is back @Providence @Blue Marlin @Abingdonboy @Pakistani Exile
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Scotland Yard shows off the first of 600 awesomely armed (and masked) Counter-Terrorism firearms officers who hit the streets today in vans, boats and MOTORBIKES

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rain-officers-outside-capital.html#newcomment

The heavily armed officers carry semi-automatic SIG Carbine rifles, sniper rifles, shot guns, hand guns and tasers as well as extensive body armour - plus other tools including disc cutters, crow bars and hydraulic rams

As well as guns, the new generation of armed officers also have BMW F800GS motorbikes to allow them to scramble to an incident anywhere in the capital and speed boats so they can deploy from the Thames.

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the deployment of additional patrols was a direct response to the wave of terror attacks in Europe

Sir Bernard today said when Britain has 'people as enemies who've got guns, we've got to have guns' and warned potential terrorists his officers were well trained in how to use their weapons

Additional armed police patrols have taken to the streets of London today in response to the spate of terror attacks in Europe despite their being no specific intelligence of an imminent threat in the UK

The BMW F800GS motorbikes purchased for the units are intended for use if the officers need to rapidly deploy through traffic in London

The new police patrols have specialist speed boats so they can deploy from the River Thames in an emergency

Armed Metropolitan Police counter terrorism officers take part in an exercise on the River Thames in London today, as Scotland Yard announced that the first of 600 additional armed officers were trained and operationally ready, and unveiled plans to put more marksmen on public patrol

 

[The Sandman]

Looks really cool.

 

[shah1398]

Wow. Apparently they have been trained in multi disciplines on basis of One man for many jobs concept.

 

[Place Of Space]

Counter-terrorism this, counter terrorism that, terrorist attack is few there, they waste public attention.

 

[waz]

Look great, but my worry is that vital resources are being transferred to this. How about we increase funding? I'm also worried that our other major cities might be neglected.
There was another argument that several terrorists wielding AK-47's, wearing body armour would probably be hard for these guys to tackle i.e. low velocity weapons v military grade weapons, but we have our SAS teams in London and two Apaches who are available around the clock to provide fire support. You can see them both circling London many times in the week.

 

[Abingdonboy]

@waz @mike2000 is back @Providence @Blue Marlin @Abingdonboy @Pakistani Exile
-


Scotland Yard shows off the first of 600 awesomely armed (and masked) Counter-Terrorism firearms officers who hit the streets today in vans, boats and MOTORBIKES

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rain-officers-outside-capital.html#newcomment

The heavily armed officers carry semi-automatic SIG Carbine rifles, sniper rifles, shot guns, hand guns and tasers as well as extensive body armour - plus other tools including disc cutters, crow bars and hydraulic rams

As well as guns, the new generation of armed officers also have BMW F800GS motorbikes to allow them to scramble to an incident anywhere in the capital and speed boats so they can deploy from the Thames.

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the deployment of additional patrols was a direct response to the wave of terror attacks in Europe

Sir Bernard today said when Britain has 'people as enemies who've got guns, we've got to have guns' and warned potential terrorists his officers were well trained in how to use their weapons

Additional armed police patrols have taken to the streets of London today in response to the spate of terror attacks in Europe despite their being no specific intelligence of an imminent threat in the UK

The BMW F800GS motorbikes purchased for the units are intended for use if the officers need to rapidly deploy through traffic in London

The new police patrols have specialist speed boats so they can deploy from the River Thames in an emergency

Armed Metropolitan Police counter terrorism officers take part in an exercise on the River Thames in London today, as Scotland Yard announced that the first of 600 additional armed officers were trained and operationally ready, and unveiled plans to put more marksmen on public patrol

The "cool" factor is what these guys are playing on but I have spoken to someon recently who is a police officer outside of London (in the South East) and he pointed out to me that this unit (CTSFO) has existed for a while now it is just that the Met/UK Govt is now "hyping" them up to make the public feel at ease.

The reality is that in the past 5 years under the Tories 1,200 armed police officers have lost their jobs so even if they add 600 now we are still down 600.

Addtionally, there has been a larger issue where armed officers across the UK are opting to return to traffic/regular policing roles as they are in geniune fear of carrying out their job (the strict regulation around use of lethal force is rather hampering apparently). So there is a real morale crisis within these units.

Furthermore, response times outside of London are in steep decline with most officers now patrolling "single crewed" (on their own) when this was almost unheard of a decade back.

There is nothing really newsworthy here, it was a photo op organsied by the Met and the Mayor and it truly angers me that the media is simply engaging in propoganda on behalf of the government and isn't doing any real journalism.

 

[Vergennes]

@Abingdonboy @waz I was wondering something.
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Let's say there are multiple terrorist attacks and hostage situations outside London and greater London,how could unarmed officers cordon,block the area and contain the terrorists ?
How minutes would it take to armed officers,let alone counter terrorism operators to reach the area ?

It's good if London cops are armed,that counter terrorism units are ready to intervene within short notice,but what about the rest of the country ?

 

[Abingdonboy]

@Abingdonboy @waz I was wondering something.
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Let's say there are multiple terrorist attacks and hostage situations outside London and greater London,how could unarmed officers cordon,block the area and contain the terrorists ?
How minutes would it take to armed officers,let alone counter terrorism operators to reach the area ?

It's good if London cops are armed,that counter terrorism units are ready to intervene within short notice,but what about the rest of the country ?

Well this is the big question isn't it?

There is real resistence within the UK's police forces to adopt firearms for every officer and it seems to me many are rather naive and looking back to a "golden time" where the "bobby" was armed with nothing but a baton and all was well. It strikes me as rather silly to pretend the UK is any different to the rest of the developed world where police officers are all armed.

In London the armed response times are arond 7-8 minuets from what I have heard, outside of London it will be far more and outside of any Town/City it is going to be >30-40 minuets (not too long ago there was an armed seige near where I live in Oxfordshire where it took around 50 minuets for armed officers to arrive on the scene).

We are only at the very start of what is going to be a very bloody and long lasting war and I suspect we will regret not taking even the most logical preventative steps when we had the chance. The UK has sent one of the highest numbers of animals to fight for ISIS and it is now only a matter of time before the war begins on the homefront, the "Islander" mentalitly of some Brits is not going to save us.

 

[Pakistani E]

@Abingdonboy @waz I was wondering something.
-
Let's say there are multiple terrorist attacks and hostage situations outside London and greater London,how could unarmed officers cordon,block the area and contain the terrorists ?
How minutes would it take to armed officers,let alone counter terrorism operators to reach the area ?

It's good if London cops are armed,that counter terrorism units are ready to intervene within short notice,but what about the rest of the country ?

According to the Elites, U.K exists in London only, the rest of us are trash. Just look at the North of England and compare it with the South. We had the Tories that destroyed the industries that were the livelihood of the North and forced thousands on the dole, some communities have never recovered. It's the same now with security.

 

[waz]

@Abingdonboy @waz I was wondering something.
-
Let's say there are multiple terrorist attacks and hostage situations outside London and greater London,how could unarmed officers cordon,block the area and contain the terrorists ?
How minutes would it take to armed officers,let alone counter terrorism operators to reach the area ?

It's good if London cops are armed,that counter terrorism units are ready to intervene within short notice,but what about the rest of the country ?

The UK's road network is actually very simple to block off. Nearly all smaller roads lead onto to larger ones, escape from London or greater London is not possible by vehicle unless you take a main route. We also have the highest number of CCTV cameras in the world, so again officers can be directed very quickly. Cordoning off isn't the problem, it's the damage that a terrorist could do in London, which is heavy in population density.
Armed officers will be there quick, last night's stabbing we had armed response there in under a minute. It's not just armed response but also special forces, who are now working in small teams all over London. We have the Apache fire support, so it will hopefully be a matter of dozens of seconds before help can arrive.
Outside London, things are good in Manchester (I have family on the force) , Leeds is decent, Birmingham needs improving. The other major cities such as Bristol, Cardiff etc need work.

 

[Oldman1]

Look great, but my worry is that vital resources are being transferred to this. How about we increase funding? I'm also worried that our other major cities might be neglected.
There was another argument that several terrorists wielding AK-47's, wearing body armour would probably be hard for these guys to tackle i.e. low velocity weapons v military grade weapons, but we have our SAS teams in London and two Apaches who are available around the clock to provide fire support. You can see them both circling London many times in the week.

Surprised they used Apaches for fire support. Not even our domestic counter terrorist units have that support here in the states.

 

[waz]

Surprised they used Apaches for fire support. Not even our domestic counter terrorist units have that support here in the states.

Yes they do, two in fact. I've spoken to UK Apache teams to confirm this. That 30mm cannon is something to be feared.

 

[Oldman1]

Yes they do, two in fact. I've spoken to UK Apache teams to confirm this. That 30mm cannon is something to be feared.

Reminds me of the movie Kingdom seeing an Apache providing cover for FBI in Saudi Arabia.

 

[waz]

Reminds me of the movie Kingdom seeing an Apache providing cover for FBI in Saudi Arabia.

Here is one of them practising in the heart of the City of London.

I see them at least several times a month out of my window when I am at work.

 

[Śakra]

I've seen London has Fallen these guys are very poorly trained and ineffective.