Protection Command
The Protection Command is one of the three Commands within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service.[1] The command specialises in protective security and has three branches: Royalty Protection, providing protection to the Royal Family; Specialist Protection, providing personal protection to government officials and diplomats; and the Diplomatic Protection Group, providing overt protection to the Government and foreign missions.[2] In contrast with the vast majority of British police officers, many members of the Protection Command routinely carry firearms in the course of their duties and all are Authorised Firearms Officers.[3][4]
Contents
Branches
Specialist Protection
The Specialist Protection Branch (SO1) is responsible for providing specialist protection for the current and former prime ministers, along with other government ministers. They also protect certain ambassadors, visiting dignitaries and other high-profile citizens who are deemed to be under possible assassination or terrorist threat.[1]
Specialist Protection officers may be deployed at short notice, when information has been received that someone may be under threat. The command is also responsible for carrying out security assessments on civilian staff employed by those under protection, along with assessing security risks to the person protected. Specialist Protection officers also offer personal protection advice to people who could benefit from being protected, but who are not deemed to be of such a need that protection from the command is necessary.[1] It has some 230 members.
Royalty Protection
The Royalty Protection Branch (SO14) provides protection for the Royal Family, both nationally and internationally. The branch has responsibility both for guarding the royal residences within London and those outside the city such as Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle and Holyrood Palace, policing members of the public on tours of certain royal residences, as well as providing 24-hour uniformed guarding of certain royal buildings. The branch also offers protection for foreign royals visiting the United Kingdom.[1]
As with all police officers of territorial police forces in England & Wales, Metropolitan Police officers have the powers and privileges of a constable throughout England and Wales.[5] However, when assigned to the protection of people or property in Scotland or Northern Ireland, Metropolitan Police officers, uniquely, also have the powers and privileges of a constable of the local territorial police force in the discharge of that duty.[6] It has some 400 members.
Diplomatic Protection Group
The Diplomatic Protection Group (SO6) provides protection for foreign missions in London, including protecting diplomatic staff, embassies, ambassadorial residences, and visiting heads of state, heads of government, and ministers. It has a estimated 800 members.
In the media
Because of their role in protection of high-profile persons, the Protection Command attracts media attention:
- In 2003, a Royalty Protection Officer sold the "green book" - the internal phone directory for the royal family - to News International for 1,000 pounds in cash.[7]
- In 2011, an officer was suspended, and subsequently dismissed, over allegations that he had an affair with his protectee's wife.[8]
- In February 2013 an officer was found dead from a gunshot wound in a property on King's Terrace in Camden.[9]
See also
- Australian Federal Police
- Counter Terrorism Command
- Territorial Support Group
- United States Secret Service
- Fixated Threat Assessment Centre
- Special Protection Group (India)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Protection Command, Metropolitan Police Service. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
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