The security operation for the Queen's funeral today is set to be the 'biggest the UK has ever seen'.
Royalty and a long list of world leaders as well as other dignitaries will all need to be kept safe as part of the mammoth job facing thousands of police officers. Thousands of members of the public are also set to travel to London and Windsor today to pay their respects to the late monarch.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said 'nothing can compare' to the 'hugely complex' task, describing it as the 'largest policing operation' in the Met’s history. The scale surpasses the operation for the Platinum Jubilee weekend and the London 2012 Olympics, which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day.
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It is also the largest global protection operation dealt with by the force, with world leaders, dignitaries and other VIPs attending the state funeral. Former counter-terrorism police chief Nick Aldworth said it is 'probably the biggest operation that we’re likely to mount in the UK'.
It comes at a time when the country’s terrorism threat level stands at 'substantial', meaning an attack is 'likely'. Police and security services will be alert to the prospect of knife attacks, bombs being detonated, and all other possible terror threats or incidents.
So-called lone actor terrorism, in particular knife attacks, are now considered the main threat. But police guarding the new King and senior royals also have to consider the risks posed by people who are fixated with those in the public eye.
Members of the public have been urged to report any suspicious behaviour, with security experts describing potential terrorists among the crowds as people who would seem 'blatantly out of place' and uninterested in ceremonial events. The risk of a threat is 'fairly high' particularly when the Charles III comes into contact with crowds, according to a royal security expert.
Richard Aitch, director of operations for firm Mobius International, said it becomes 'very difficult' for personal protection officers when the monarch is so close to a 'group of unknowns' like crowds and they will be carrying out a split second process of 'personal vetting' to root out suspicious activity.
Richard Aitch, director of operations for firm Mobius International, said: "As they’re walking along the route, they’ll be looking at hands and eyes. They’ll be looking at the demeanour of the crowd. And what they do in their mind is they’ll conduct the process of personal vetting. They will be doing their own vetting of people amongst that crowd.
"They’ll be identifying mannerisms, looking for what looks out of place. It’s the presence of the abnormal, it’s the absence of the normal. Amongst that crowd what you’d want to see is a load of smiling faces, people being open and pleasant to one another and eager to see the King.
"Of course, you could have that one person in the crowd who is maybe sweating profusely, may be looking a bit awkward and fidgeting and that’s the sort of person where you would get on the radio and say you’ve got a suspicious individual in the crowd and give a description. And then a covert operator or a uniformed officer will go in and have a chat with them."
Mr Aitch said such scenarios, particularly when the person in question is greeting people, are 'very difficult' because it 'only takes a split second for someone in the crowd to come out with a knife or someone to come out and lunge for whatever reason. And you are on the backfoot immediately'.
But he added: "Part of being a policeman, part of the training, is understanding people, understanding mannerisms. So they are accustomed to that role."
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