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London’s Metropolitan Police on Monday said a deal for the army to provide emergency cover following the mass resignation of hundreds of the capital’s armed police had ended after a number of officers returned to duty.
The “contingency option” to deploy the army for counter-terrorism operations at the UK’s biggest police force was the most contentious aspect of the Met’s response to the resignation of hundreds of firearms officers in recent days.
“The number of officers who have now returned to armed duties is sufficient for us to no longer require external assistance to meet our counter-terrorism responsibilities,” the force wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “We are grateful to the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces personnel involved for their support.”
The officers handed in their weapons permits in response to the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to charge a Met armed response officer with murder over the fatal shooting last year of Chris Kaba, an unarmed black musician, in south London.
The resignations created what one former officer called the “biggest operational crisis” that Sir Mark Rowley has faced in his year as commissioner of the force.
The prosecution of the officer — identified only as NX121 — led home secretary Suella Braverman to announce a review of armed policing over the weekend.
She wrote on the social media platform X on Sunday that armed officers should not fear “ending up in the dock” for carrying out their duties.
“Officers risking their lives to keep us safe have my full backing and I will do everything in my power to support them,” added Braverman.
Rowley welcomed the review and said the way police officers were held to account was “long overdue for reform to address a number of imbalances”.
The resignations have created what Dal Babu, a former senior Metropolitan Police commander, said was the “biggest operational crisis” that Rowley has faced since he became commissioner on September 12, 2022. “Trust has never been lower,” Babu said.
Armed response officers from neighbouring forces were brought into London over the weekend to fill gaps left by the resignations. Officers from the armed policing unit run jointly by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police forces helped the Met over the weekend, Hertfordshire constabulary said.
Although most UK police officers are not routinely armed, the Met has an unusually high number authorised to carry firearms. While some serve in response units to incidents involving arms, others provide armed protection to parliament, embassies, airports and other strategic sites.
The Met said on Monday that “many” of its armed officers were worried about how the decision to prosecute NX121 affected them.
“They are concerned that it signals a shift in the way the decisions they take in the most challenging circumstances will be judged,” the force said. “A number of officers have taken the decision to step back from armed duties while they consider their position.”
The force was in “ongoing discussions” with those officers to support them and “fully understand” the “genuinely held concerns” that they had, it added.
The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents the force’s rank-and-file officers, on Monday welcomed Braverman’s review.
“Colleagues should not fear for their liberty and livelihoods for simply doing the job the public expect of us,” the federation said. “We look forward to playing a full part of any review.”
