Secret Plan To Deploy Troops On UK Streets In Event Of Terror Attack

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Secret plans to deploy soldiers on UK streets in the aftermath of a terror attack are 'shocking' and 'provocative' says Baroness Jenny Jones

Heavily Armed Soldiers

It has been revealed that more than 5,000 heavily armed soldiers could be deployed onto the streets of Britain if ISIS or another extremist group targeted the UK.

Details of the plan emerged after a secret document was accidentally uploaded to a police chiefs’ website.

Code named Operation Temperer, the military contingency plan was detailed in minutes from a closed session of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). The document was swiftly taken down.

The plans for ‘large-scale military support’ to the police have been drawn up by police chiefs and are being discussed at the highest levels of Government, but have never been revealed in public or mentioned in Parliament, according to The Mail On Sunday, who saw the documents.

The plan would deploy the troops to support armed police by providing “protective security”, guarding against more attacks, while counter-terrorist experts and MI5 officers would work together to locate the people behind the terrorism.

The Independent reports:

“The minutes of the meeting were uploaded last Thursday afternoon and removed and revised early on Friday morning when it was identified that details from the closed session had been included,” an NPCC spokesperson said.

Baroness Jenny Jones, who sits on London’s Police and Crime Committee, called the revelations “absolutely shocking”. “Putting troops on the streets would be very controversial,” she told The Independent. “I think it would be very provocative and cause more problems than it would solve.” Although plans certainly had to be made for the event of a terror attack, she was curious about whether troops were being trained to deal with members of the public, she said, adding that “it would not be appropriate to use them” if they had not.

If it reached the situation where military help was necessary, the Government would have to have lost control, Baroness Jones said, adding that “it would make them look weak and panicky”.

“Something that would be this extraordinary,” she said. “I think the principle of this should be debated in Parliament.”

Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, the “national lead” for armed policing, briefed the other chief officers at the meeting and “discussions were ongoing with Government” the minutes said, although they have never been debated in Parliament.

However, Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said the plan was “sensible”.

“You really have to have contingency planning, to prepare for potentially the worst,” he said. “If you had multiple sites as they had in the Paris attacks, it is possible you would have overstretch, you would look to other options and the Army would be the most obvious port of call.”

Last month more than 1,000 police and soldiers, including SAS troops, staged a mass exercise codenamed Strong Tower to test their ability to respond to a gun attack on London similar to the one that left 30 British tourists dead in Tunisia on 26 June.

 

 

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