Cat And Mouse: Tricky Task Of Policing Terror

[David Guyatt]

Not to mention the hush-hush words (please whisper quietly to yourself: "strategy and tension")

False flag attacks anyone?

2:33pm UK, Friday January 07, 2011
Sam Kiley, security editor
The effort to prevent a terrorist attack on Britain is a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.


Police are on a heightened state of alert across Western Europe after recent incidents
Police and security services know how real the threat is and are constantly assessing what action they need to take to prevent a plot coming to fruition.
But intelligence is rarely black and white and there are times when operational judgements have to be taken even if the details are not known.
Yesterday's security review meeting in central London was one of those occasions.
In recent months there has been a steady flow of incidents which reflect the heightened state of alert in place across Western Europe.

The Stockholm suicide bomb attack is one in a recent slew of violent attacks
From the Luton-based suicide bomber striking in Stockholm to the so-called "printer bomb" found on an aircraft at East Midlands Airport and a foiled plot in Denmark targeting the offices of a newspaper, the activity of violent extremists has, it seems, been on the rise.
Combine this with a concerted effort by terrorist groups originating from Yemen to disseminate online guidance for "lone wolf" bombmakers and self-starter jihadists, and the grave threat faced by police and security services becomes clear.
The decision to increase the number of police at train stations and raise the sub-sector terror threat level for the transport network and civil aviation hubs to severe, indicates the authorities are at the very least acting on this wider threat.
The tactic being deployed is known as "policing out".

A 'printer bomb' was found on a UPS cargo plane at East Midlands Airport
The last notable time such a strategy was used was in February 2003, when then Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered tanks to guard Heathrow Airport against possible terrorist attack.
The idea of "policing out" is to deter or delay a plot but authorities are well aware this does not necessarily stop those intent on violence changing their plans.
That is why specific increases in policing in areas such as London transport hubs have to be combined with a heightened state of alert nationwide - and across the various emergency services.
The Glasgow Airport bombing in 2007 is a prime example.
When two car bombs planted in London's West End failed to properly detonate, the terrorists responsible swiftly changed their plans and attacked in Scotland.

A jeep packed with explosives was driven into Glasgow Airport in 2007
The key lesson for authorities was that high-profile targets were not necessarily the only focus for determined terrorists.
Recognition of this has resulted in a significant increase in the levels of cooperation and communication between the emergency services about how they would respond to another attack.
An internal London Ambulance document leaked to Sky News shows that there is a fully-developed, detailed response plan ready to be instigated in the event of a coordinated firearms attack in multiple simultaneous locations, in the style of those in Mumbai in 2008.
The document describes such an event as "Operation Plato", where semi-automatic weapons are used indiscriminately and perhaps most worryingly, uniformed staff are targets.
It is in this context that the UK's emergency service infrastructure is readying itself.