There follows is a summary of two messages received from the Police Borough Commander, Chris Hafford.

Following the tragic incident in Manchester, I just wanted to reassure you of what we are doing in Bromley and across London in response.  Clearly, our thoughts and prayers are with those directly affected by the event itself.  There has been a series of meetings and conference calls where our activities have been discussed and co-ordinated.  Our response will be continually reviewed to ensure we are targeting our resources in the right areas and in response to community concerns.  I will update you on any significant developments that impact upon us.

We have increased the number of officers on patrol in Bromley whilst also providing officers to central London.  Our current planning for local deployment is focused on crowded places and other specified sites across the Borough. 

Threat assessment

·      The Prime Minister announced that the threat level to the UK from international terrorism was raised to Critical.  This level remains under constant review.

MPS Response

·      The MPS is working with our partners to protect London. We have put in place pre-planned responses to make London a hostile environment for terrorists, to provide reassurance to local communities and to maintain our usual service to the public.

·      Our response includes, but is not limited to, the deployment of military assistance to provide static armed guards at key sites such as Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Embassies and the palace of Westminster to release armed police officers for other duties.

·      We will be providing additional police patrols at certain locations, such as transport hubs, places of worship, school routes and crowded places. Our deployments will include more armed officers patrolling on foot and in vehicles. The locations, deployments and tactics employed will vary continuously in order to avoid predictability.

·      Overall in London the public can expect to see an increased number of officers on duty – both armed and unarmed. This will include Special Constables providing additional visible presence over the next few days

·      We are reviewing security arrangements for upcoming events and there will be additional measures in place at many of these events in the coming days. Meanwhile, specially trained officers are providing security advice to businesses, event organisers and venues across London.

 Local public reassurance & community cohesion

·      We know that some of our communities will feel a heightened sense of concern. Borough police across London are engaging with their local stakeholders and through their local networks, providing support and reassurance to vulnerable communities, with the business community, schools and faith premises.

·      Safer Schools officers will be reaching out and available to reassure pupils and answer questions they have.

·      As well as reaching out to reassure local partners and communities, local police are actively monitoring community tensions.

·      We encourage people to report any hate crime to police. The message remains as it always has been; we will not tolerate hate crime and will investigate all reports that are made to us

 

The public are encouraged to remain calm but vigilant

·      We need our communities and key partners to help us to keep London safe and to thwart the terrorists who seek to divide us and undermine our way of life.

·      We need all our partners to encourage communities to remain calm but vigilant. Community intelligence is a key part of our response and we are urging people to immediately report anything that causes them concern or raises their suspicions.

·      If the public see something suspicious we ask them to ACT. Action Counters Terrorism; report anything you’ve heard that could identify a terrorist threat by calling 0800 789 321. In an emergency always call 999 – #ActionCountersTerrorism​”​

Kind regards,

Bromley Neighbourhood Watch Association ​