Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of people who live or work in the City of London are concerned about terrorism. That compares to 68 per cent of all London adults.
An even greater number of Londoners (87 per cent) think that the public are important in fighting terrorism and nearly three quarters (73 per cent) are saying they are likely to report suspicious behavior to the police.
The survey, made in late October, since the official terrorist threat level was raised, shows that the message from the City of London Police of remaining vigilant is one shared by the public, the force says.
Meanwhile the force is still using and refining its approach to deter terrorism and detect crime through Project Servator, first featured in the May issue of Professional Security, about One New Change shopping centre near St Paul’s Cathedral, one of the sites whose guard forces and CCTV works with the force and has joint patrolling. The City of London force also does joint deployments with British Transport Police (BTP).
City of London Police Commissioner Adrian Leppard said “The public should be vigilant to the threat posed by terrorism and this survey shows that they are willing to work with the police to prevent such attacks. The people of London are resilient and knowledgeable about the risk from terrorism and know they are key to helping fight the threat.
“Project Servator’s success is in its partnership between the City of London and British Transport Police working with the security industry, businesses and the public to create a ring of steel around the square mile.”
The deployments may use ‘Behavioral Detection Officers’, as well as other specialist teams, to spot suspicious activity. The operation has already led to a total of 98 arrests and 31 cars seized since the launch in February. The survey also showed a gender bias with 76 per cent of women concerned about terrorist attacks compared to only 59 per cent of men.
The Servator tactics, developed and trialed by the City of London Police as part of a three-year research, were adopted by Police Scotland for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, as featured in Professional Security from August to November.
About the survey
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2076 London adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between October 24 to 30, 2014. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all London adults (aged 18-plus).
For more about Servator visit the City of London Police website.
See the Professional Security magazine article on Servator in Glasgow in July.
For the latest Servator deployments in the City of London, see the November and forthcoming December 2014 print issues of Professional Security magazine.
