In the brand new police document leakage, it has been known to the press that British royals and VIPs currently under police bodyguards’ protection will be put in a minimum personal protection status, as the bodyguards will be stripped off of real armament for cutback reasons.
Instead, what they would be asked to protect their clients with would be Tasers, making the police doubt the possibility of full protection, calling the move ‘playing the Russian roulette’.
The report denounces police chiefs of putting cost-cutting above the safety of VIPs, the officers who guard them and the public.
The lessons form the Westminster and London Bridge terror attacks – where police were attacked by knife-wielding jihadis – have been ‘quickly forgotten’ and that ‘a reckless trade-off of cost vs safety has taken place.
Security measures have been downgraded for a number of senior politicians, community leaders and others previously deemed vulnerable to an attack.
Discussions have also taken place about removing armed cover for some former leading political figures, sources said. The Metropolitan Police Federation – which represents rank and file officers in the force – can be disclosed days after a terror suspect, allegedly acting alone, stabbed three men to death in a Reading park.
Khairi Saadallah, a 25-year-old Libyan who was previously on the radar of MI5, is accused of going on a bloody rampage armed only with a knife.
The Federation report – also endorsed by officers based at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle – spells out the dangers facing those involved in the close protection of VIPs or on the frontline. ‘We are living in times of unprecedented uncertainty around terrorist threats,’ it says.
‘In a hostile, premeditated attack on a Principal with intent to cause death or serious injury, the most likely weapon of choice would be a knife or other pointed or bladed article.
‘Taser, ASP (expandable batons) or CS spray are not fit for purpose to defend against an attack of this nature.
‘One only has to read the witness testimonies from the London Bridge attack inquest relating to the “have-a-go heroes” struck down and murdered by terrorists armed with nothing more sophisticated than pink ceramic kitchen knives, purchased for £4 each from Lidl, duct-taped to their hands.
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Replaced!