The Specialist Operations directorate is a unit of the Metropolitan Police of London, UK responsible for providing specialist policing capabilities including national security and counter-terrorism operations. The Specialist Operations Directorate is currently led by Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes. [1]
At its peak, Specialist Operations (SO) was a group of twenty specialist units, which were formed to give the Metropolitan Police a specialist policing capability. The SO designation was implemented in 1986 as part of Sir Kenneth Newman's restructuring of the Metropolitan Police Service. Most of the units designated SO units were already in existence, many of them as departments of C Division and its branches, and all were presided over by an Assistant Commissioner of Special Operations (ACSO).
In 1999 its Organised Crime Group took over residual work from the disbanded War Crimes Unit. [2] In 2010, ACSO co-directed Operation Guava , aimed at "a significant terrorist plot". [3] The aim of this ACSO action was to prevent the establishment of a jihadist training camp in Kashmir on land owned by one of the suspects. [4] Operation Guava resulted in the 2012 conviction of Usman Khan, who went on to perpetrate the 2019 London Bridge stabbing. [5] [6]
The Specialist Operations Directorate comprises three commands. [7]
Protection Command is led by a commander overseen by a deputy assistant commissioner. [7] The command is responsible for protective security for high-profile governmental representatives of the United Kingdom or from the diplomatic community. As such it is analogous to the United States Secret Service or the Diplomatic Security Service. The command comprises two branches: [8]
The Security Command is led by a commander overseen by the same deputy assistant commissioner as Protection Command. [7] The command comprises two branches: [8]
The Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) is led by a commander overseen by a deputy assistant commissioner. The deputy assistant commissioner is the concurrent National Police Chiefs' Council Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing leading the network. [11] The Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) is responsible for protecting London and the rest of the United Kingdom from the threat of terrorism. The command operates against the threat of terrorism at a local, national and international level, and supports the national Counter Terrorism Policing network (the regional counter terrorism units and the National Police Chiefs' Council). The Command also has the national lead for domestic extremism in support of the National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit. The command also deals with sensitive national security investigations, such as Official Secrets Act enquiries, the investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and politically motivated murders. [11] It was created in 2006 through the merger of the Met's Anti-Terrorist Branch and Special Branch.
Until April 2015 Protection Command was split into three units that provide protection for ministers, the royal family, and for foreign embassies, diplomats, and visiting dignitaries:
Until April 2015, the Security Command consisted of three units that provide protection of parliament and the two airports within Greater London (Heathrow Airport and London City Airport), and organise security for major events in London. [12]
Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) has remained unchanged.
Owing to continual restructuring of the Metropolitan Police, only a few of the original SO units still exist in their original form and still use the SO designation. Where the SO designation has been reassigned to another unit, the units are listed in order
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly referred to as the Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within the ceremonial county of Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for some specialised matters throughout the United Kingdom, including national counter-terrorism measures and the protection of specific people, such as the monarch and other members of the royal family, members of the government, and other officials.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. The AFP is an independent agency of the Attorney-General's Department and is responsible to the Attorney-General and accountable to the Parliament of Australia. As of October 2019 the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police is Reece Kershaw, formerly the Northern Territory Police Commissioner.
The Specialist Firearms Command is the firearms unit of the Metropolitan Police. The Command is responsible for providing a firearms-response capability, assisting the rest of the service which is not routinely armed.
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) is a branch of the Protection Command within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service.
An authorised firearms officer (AFO) is a British police officer who is authorised and trained to carry and use firearms. The designation is significant because most police officers in the United Kingdom do not routinely carry firearms. The only forces where officers are routinely armed are the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defence Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Belfast Harbour Police and the Belfast International Airport Constabulary.
The Anti-Terrorist Branch was a Specialist Operations (SO) branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service, formed to respond to terrorist activities within the capital and the surrounding areas.
The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, transnational crime, the rise of China, and Pacific regional security.
The Aviation Policing Command (APC) now renamed as Aviation Security Operational Unit (SO18) is a Specialist Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The unit is responsible for providing policing and security for both Heathrow and London City airports. London's other airports, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are policed by Sussex, Essex, and Bedfordshire Police respectively, as they are not located in the Metropolitan Police District.
Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) or SO15 is a Specialist Operations branch within London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Counter Terrorism Command was established as a result of the merging of the Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) and Special Branch (SO12) in October 2006, bringing together intelligence, operations, and investigative functions to form a single command. CTC has over 1,500 police officers and staff, and a number of investigators based overseas and also hosts the Counter Terrorism Policing headquarters.
The Special Detective Unit (SDU) is the main domestic security agency of the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland, under the aegis of the Crime & Security Branch (CSB). It is the primary counter-terrorism and counter-espionage investigative unit within the state. The Special Detective Unit superseded the Special Branch, which itself replaced the older Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was founded in 1921. They work in conjunction with the Defence Forces Directorate of Military Intelligence (J2) – Ireland's national intelligence service – on internal matters. The unit's headquarters are in Harcourt Street, Dublin City.
The Specialist Operations was a Command within the New South Wales Police Force that was responsible for a range of specialist groups of the police force. The division was headed by the deputy commissioner of the NSW Police, whose position was occupied by Nick Kaldas prior to his retirement.
Law enforcement in the Republic of Ireland is the responsibility of Ireland's civilian police force, the Garda Síochána, commonly referred to as the Gardaí. It is responsible for all civil policing within the country and has been the only territorial police force since their merger with the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1925.
The Protection Command is one of the commands within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The command specialises in protective security and has two branches: Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP), providing protection to the royal family and close protection to government officials, and Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP), providing uniformed security to government buildings, officials and diplomats. 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.
The Metropolitan Police of Greater London, England is organised into four main directorates, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner, and four civilian-staffed support departments previously under the umbrella of Met Headquarters, each headed by a Chief Officer, the equivalent civilian grade to Assistant Commissioner. Each business groups or directorate has differing responsibilities. The commands are Frontline Policing, Met Operations, Specialist Operations and Professionalism.
Peter John Michael Clarke, CVO, OBE, QPM is a retired senior police officer with London's Metropolitan Police most notably having served as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner with the Specialist Operations directorate, commanding the Counter Terrorism Command.
Counter Terrorism Policing is the national collaboration of police forces working to prevent, deter, and investigate terrorism in the United Kingdom.
Special Branch was a unit in the Metropolitan Police in London, formed as a counter-terrorism unit in 1883 and merged with another unit to form Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) in 2006. It maintained contact with the Security Service (MI5) and had responsibility for, among other things, personal protection of (non-royal) VIPs and performing the role of examining officer at designated ports and airports, as prescribed by the Terrorism Act 2000.
The Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit was a specialist unit of the Metropolitan Police Service investigating cases relating to the War Crimes Act 1991. It was formed on 28 May 1991 and - with no more leads on any such cases remaining after the trial of Anthony Sawoniuk - it was disbanded in summer 1999 and its work transferred to the Organised Crime Group, part of the Specialist Operations (SO) Department. As of 2015 such work was carried out by Counter Terrorism Command, also part of Specialist Operations.
20 December 2010, 12 Terrorism Act arrest warrants were executed simultaneously in relation to Operation Guava, under the direction of ACSO
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: CS1 maint: location (link)the Operation Guava group planned to establish a training camp in Kashmir on the grounds of a piece of property owned by one of the cell's members and to turn this into a location where British jihadists could go and train
Mr. Khan was one of nine people who were imprisoned after pleading guilty to being part of a group that was plotting in 2010 to plant a pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange. The group, which had been tracked by Britain's internal security service MI5 in an operation code-named Guava
Usman Khan, 20, and Nazam Hussain, 26, were raising money to set up a terror training camp on land owned by Khan's family in Kashmir, Pakistan