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City project

by Mark Rowe

New tactics, new tools and new technology will be launched in February to police the Square Mile says the City of London Police, after a pilot scheme towards the end of 2012 and further refinements last year. What the force terms a new, multi-layered approach to deter hostile reconnaissance throughout the City will be adopted as ‘business as usual’ from 10 February under the new name of Project Servator.

The new policing tactics involve replacing the old-style, single staffed entry points with highly visible deployments that can occur anywhere in the City at any time and draw on overt and plain-clothed officers, marked and unmarked vehicles, cycles, horses and dogs and other measures that may not be visible including CCTV.

This activity will be supported by officers trained to engage with and reassure visitors and locals who also have an role to play by reporting any suspicious behaviour and explaining to their staff and customers about the nature of the operations. In-car Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and video systems have been fitted to 22 marked police vehicles and new, back office, software will ensure that all intelligence can be produced more efficiently and used in a more targeted way, the force says. Months of trials are now complete and the new system goes live in February. ​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​Commander Operations, Wayne Chance, said: “Protecting the City as a global financial centre remains a key priority for the City of London Police and, as the nature of the threat evolves, deterrence and detection measures need to develop accordingly. As a force, we are the pioneers of a new approach to policing that aims to deter and detect criminal and terrorist activity, as well as to reassure the general public.”

​​​”These new tactics, coupled with the new technology and tools to support our officers out on the street, will mean a more enhanced and strategic approach to protecting the Square Mile and is part of our drive to deploy our resources more effectively and more intelligently.”

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