Met Police boss Cressida Dick calls for funding review and warns ‘high volume’ of terrorists still want to attack UK
Chief called for a review on whether policing resources are adequate to deal with 'low tech' attacks with cars and knives
MET Police boss Cressida Dick told of the “enormous” investigation into London Bridge – and warned that a “high volume” of extremists still want to attack the UK.
She called for a review on whether current policing resources are adequate with so many people now prepared to carry out “low tech” attacks with cars and knives.
The commissioner said she hoped the three terrorist attacks in London and Manchester over the last nine weeks would not become the “new normal.”
But Ms Dick stressed that police and intelligence agencies had foiled 18 plots since 2013 – five in the last nine weeks – and added there was a “high volume of people who want to attack us”.
She paid tribute to the “extraordinary courage” of officers who tackled the three London Bridge attackers on Saturday night and said “enormous progress” was being made in the investigation.
She visited injured police officers in hospital after the attacks and said : “I think we saw some extraordinary examples of courage by members of the public and indeed by police officers.”
Four cops were injured, two seriously, as they confronted the gang running amok with knives in Borough Market.
An off-duty Met officer was stabbed five times as he tried to help British Transport Police officers being attacked.
A BTP officer was knifed twice, one in the head, after challenging the attackers while armed with a baton.
Ms Dick said his actions were “astonishing”, adding : “We also have a Met Police officer who is in hospital seriously injured.
“I met his family, he was off duty and he saw the transport police officers getting attacked and he just dived in and tried to assist them as best he can, and he has been seriously stabbed.”
She added : “Our hearts go out to those officers and indeed everybody who had to deal with such a terrifying thing but in all that sorrow, there is a great deal of pride in the Met.
“We have fantastic people, in policing nationally we have wonderful people.”
Ms Dick said the changing nature of the terror threat meant counter-terrorism and local policing resources and strategy would have to be reviewed.
The London force has already lost £400 million from its budgets since 2010, faces losing a further £400million from its budgets over the next three years.
Ms Dick said: “Any police leader, probably any leader, would always want more resources. Of course we would.
“We’ve been arresting about one person a day for terrorism offences. We have been in many respects extremely successful and we’ve built a very powerful machine.
“But we have now seen these ghastly attacks in London and Manchester over the last several weeks.
“During that time we have also foiled another five plots so, yes, of course I think it is appropriate for us all to look at the amount of resource that the police have, both counter-terrorism police but also our neighbourhood officers.”