Armed police on Tube after North Greenwich 'bomb' alert

 
Pic: North Greenwich station was evacuated over a terror scare
Crime reporter(wp/es):
Armed police are to travel on London Underground trains following the bomb alert at North Greenwich station, a senior officer revealed today.
Firearms patrols which are routinely deployed on mainline train stations in London are to use the Tube to travel between jobs for the first time in a move to counter the terror threat and to reassure the public.
British Transport Police chiefs say they are not deploying armed patrols on the Underground but the firearms cops will use the Tube instead of cars to get round the city in future.
BTP’s Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock said the plan would mean the public could see armed officers travelling on the Tube on a daily basis.
He said: “They will stand out and people will see them. We hope they will provide a reassurance that they are there and they are able to respond whatever the threat may be.”

Armed officers were deployed on the Tube and railway in the aftermath of the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 but the measure was only temporary.
Today’s announcement will mean that armed officers will now be seen on the Tube network in central London on a daily basis.
However, the move is understood to have raised some concerns at City Hall over how Londoners might react to the sight of armed officers on the Tube.
The Mayor’s spokesperson said: “No decision has been taken on this proposal. It will be discussed between the Mayor, BTP and TfL over the coming weeks‎.”

Armed officers routinely patrol mainline stations such as King’s Cross, Waterloo and Paddington and the new move will mean they will criss-cross the city as they move between jobs.
BTP chiefs are holding final discussions with City Hall and Transport for London before the change is launched.
Police believe the move will raise the profile of officers on the Tube as well as allowing firearms patrols more time on duty at mainline stations.
In a further move BTP dog units will also use Tube trains to travel around the capital rather using vans or cars as they do now.

The new measures were announced today as it emerged that members of the public raised the alarm over the suspected improvised bomb found on a Jubilee Line train last week.
Mr Hanstock praised the public and Tube staff for the way they responded to the alert.
He said: “We are very impressed that the public did everything we have been asking them to do for many years, they acted as our eyes and ears and spotted something that was unusual and out of place.
“They reported it to staff who also made a very careful assessment and, working from a set of principles, also raised the alarm and called in the experts.”

North Greenwich Tube station was closed while the bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion on the device last Thursday.
A 19-year-old man was Tasered and arrested in the street in Holloway the following day in connection with the alleged plot.
Damon Smith, who had recently started studying at London Metropolitan University, remains in custody.
Mr Hanstock described the device as being in an “innocuous” bag on the floor of an eastbound Jubilee train.
He said: “It was not something with curly wires and sticks of dynamite, it was enough to sit unnoticed.
It was typical of what you would see on the train, but it was enough for the public to say, ‘hang on, no-one has been with that for a while, it seems to have been abandoned, we are going to report it.’”
The bag is thought to have been left on the train somewhere between Westminster and Canary Wharf and travelled on the train for at least a few stops before the alert was raised.
A member of the public who spotted it then walked to the front of the train and alerted the driver at North Greenwich station.
Mr Hanstock said the driver had to decide if it was a routine abandoned bag such as someone “who had just forgotten their laundry” and he quickly decided to call in the experts.

Mr Hanstock said his force had a team of “highly trained, highly equipped” bomb recognition experts who attended the scene and, in turn, called in the Met’s counter terrorism command.
The deputy chief constable admitted there was a risk that the sight of armed police on the Tube network might increase people’s fears of terrorism.
But he said: “It is a risk we are prepared to take. We understand that people don’t want to be confronted with the reality of the threat that the UK faces but it is clear and obvious that we have this severe threat level from terrorism.

“Whether that is targeted, deliberate and calculated or whether it is unsophisticated, we have seen both, the reality of that risk is there.
“Hopefully people will be reassured that we have got the measures in place to counter that threat and we can also be unpredictable.”
Referring to the bomb alert at North Greenwich, Mr Hanstock said his officers investigated thousands of reports of unclaimed bags every year.
He revealed that in recent years there had been just 37 occasions when police had carried out full evacuations of stations.
 The force had become adept at reacting to deaths on the Tube and in reducing the disruption to the Tube and rail network following serious incidents.