News & Events

Manchester Incident – Public Reassurance

May 24, 2017 | Press releases

Dear Colleague,

Following last night’s incident in Manchester, this email provides an update on reassurance and engagement activity that is being carried out in London by the MPS.

A key element of our strategy is to provide public reassurance:

  • Borough police are leading on this across London 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
  • Officers will be carrying out additional patrols at certain locations, such as transport hubs, places of worship, school routes and tourist locations
  • We are working with venues and premises to provide advice to those holding events
  • Safer Schools officers will be reaching out and available to reassure pupils and answer questions they have
  • 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

 

Building community cohesion is an important as we look to mitigate the impact of any hate speech:

  • 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
  • #WeStandTogether has been trending highly this morning

 

The public are encouraged to remain vigilant:

  • 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

 

Earlier today the Commissioner said:

“This is an utterly appalling attack. My thoughts are with the people of Manchester as they try to come to terms with the horrific events that took place in their city last night.

“Our colleagues from Greater Manchester Police and their emergency services showed huge bravery as they ran towards the confusion and danger.

“We are providing every possible support through the counter terrorism network as investigators work tirelessly to understand what has happened.

“Here in the Capital we put extra police officers on duty as Londoners started their journeys into work. This will continue for as long as it is needed, and the mix of armed and unarmed officers are there to reassure.

“Looking ahead to the weekend – a normal busy and vibrant weekend in our city – we are working with all those planning events to make sure we are doing all we can.

“Terrorists seek to spread fear and undermine our way of life. We must work together to stop that from happening. If you have suspicions, tell us; if you see something that concerns you, report it. Together we can protect London.”