Scotland Yard has defended an adults-only Easter egg hunt for staff at a counter-terrorism hub in west London.
Specialist officers at Empress State Building in West Brompton, near Earl’s Court, were offered the activity during a break and not alloted working hours on Thursday.
Ex-Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley said the decision was “ludicrous” at a time when the force is under pressure to solve an epidemic of violent crime and phone snatching.
He told the Daily Mail: “While London burns and people don’t get an investigation into their burglaries, car theft or harassment on the Tube, the Met Police think it appropriate to have an Easter egg hunt.
“I mean it’s ludicrous that they’ve arranged it in the first place. There are tens of thousands of crimes committed in this city every day. No wonder there’s a crimewave.”
The Easter egg hunt has been advertised on posters displayed throughout the 31-storey building.
But responding to Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, on X, formerly Twitter, other officers defended the egg hunt and said criticism was a “non story” as it only lasted 30 minutes.
Met sources stated like every other large organisation in the capital, it holds team building activities to promote closer working with partner agencies.
“This short activity is taking place during break time,” they said.
A police spokeswoman told the Standard: “Every day our officers work round the clock to keep London safe and they will always prioritise urgent jobs and core policing work.”
Construction worker Bill Cantley told Metro: “It’s astonishing they have the time and energy for an Easter egg hunt when they are hunting terrorists.
“It looks bad to the outside world. We don’t have time for an egg hunt on the building site. The gaffer wouldn’t be happy!”
Cafe worker Maya Jimenez, 24, added: “It’s not really appropriate to hold an Easter egg hunt.
“They are nice people who work there we have customers from the police but it doesn’t look good to play around when we are told the terror threat is constantly there. They should think about how it looks to citizens.”
Chloe Fraser, 48, who lives nearby said she appreciated that hard working offices deserved some down time but that an Easter egg hunt looked “frivolous”.
