After the March 22 Westminster terror attack, Dr Tim Parsons, a former Chief Inspector, analyses the British police.
As the dust begins to settle after the terrible and tragic events in Westminster, inevitably questions will be asked about the level and nature of security at the Palace of Westminster and in and around the Houses of Parliament.
Most of the police officers who are stationed in and around Parliament are like PC Keith Palmer, who so tragically lost his life during the terrorist attack yesterday. They are unarmed normal patrol officers, usually with many years of experience who are deployed there, not because of their knowledge and expertise in counter-terrorism, but because of their general policing skills. They will have excellent communication skills and will have learnt how to deal with politicians in a discreet and professional manner. PC Palmer and his colleagues would spend much of their time talking to the public, chatting to parties of school children, posing for selfies with foreign tourists, giving advice and directions to people visiting Parliament and the capital more generally.
The second layer of security is provided by armed police officers from the Metropolitan Police specialist firearms unit. These officers are highly trained and well-armed and will, undoubtedly provide an instant and effective response to any attack. This was very evident yesterday when PC Palmer’s murderer was intercepted and shot dead almost immediately by other officers.
The dilemma for the police is this: they cannot adopt a permanently defensive posture, viewing every person who approaches them as a potential attacker. Far from providing a reassuring presence to the public, ordinary people would soon find such officers to be a frightening and intimidating presence, not a reassuring one. So regardless of how well-protected, how well-armed and how well-trained our officers are, they are, and will continue to be, police officers who must interact with the public, talking to people, reassuring people, dealing with questions and queries about a large array of different issues. That is the essence of the British policing model.
Of course police officers in London and elsewhere in the UK are aware of the risks, risks they are quite prepared to shoulder and to do so unarmed. So although there is likely to be some tightening of security and increased vigilance in and around the Palace of Westminster following the events of Wednesday afternoon, the fundamental relationship between the police and the public will remain unchanged. As for those responsible for perpetrating such an attack, it will become clearer over the coming days who planned this crime and what their motivations were. It is being assumed that the primary cause was an Islamist-inspired motivation; this may or may not turn out to be correct, but it is worth noting at this point that many British Muslims are working tirelessly to prevent these types of attacks taking place.
In the Metropolitan Police, there are many devout and orthodox Muslim officers, Sufis, Salafis and others, who have the highest possible security clearance and who are known and trusted in all the myriad Muslim communities across the capital and beyond. The work and the contribution of these officers is often downplayed or even ignored: it shouldn’t be.
About the author
Dr Tim Parsons, pictured, is a former Chief Inspector in the City of London Police and a senior lecturer in policing at London Metropolitan University.
As background, see about London Met’s MSc in security studies.
See also his co-authored 2016 article on counter-terror policing.
