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I initially wrote this for the Manchester bombing thread in the General Forum but I don't think it sits well in there (too far off topic), hence:
In addition to the up to 5,000 troops now widely reported as being deployed under Operation Temperer following the Manchester bombing, it's also being reported that there is to be a national police mobilisation to transfer police from county rural areas to big cities. All of this seems to point to far more going on than what happened in Manchester.
Not just one lone wolf but more a wolf pack seems to be what is being considered. Troop deployment under Operation Temperer was designed for situations of multiple Paris/Mumbai type attacks taking place at the same time.
What is striking is the reported Military personnel may also be seen at other events over the coming weeks. The only two other times that the risk level was at critical it only lasted for several days before dropping. This seems to be planned for a much longer period like Operation Sentinelle in France.
The threat level has only twice before been raised to critical since the system of official threat levels was introduced in 1 August 2006. It was raised for three days from 10 August 2006 at the time of the transatlantic airliner plot, and on 30 June 2007 when the security services uncovered the plot to bomb a nightclub on London’s Haymarket. Decision to raise terror level to critical will see 5,000 troops on streets
And previously troops were deployed under cover in civilian clothing
The last time troops under Operation Temperer were deployed was immediately after the terrorist attacks in Brussels last year. But they were only used covertly as backup for the visible armed police presence at railway stations and airports (from above link).
The framework this operates under is:
2015 to 2020 government policy: Military Aid to the Civil Authorities for activities in the UK - GOV.UK
and in detail:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...file/591639/20170207_JDP02_Resilience_web.pdf
(an interesting read. "I commend this publication to the widest audience" Vice Chief of the Defence Staff)
2.13. All MACA operations must be conducted within the law. Service personnel
are subject to Service discipline (the Armed Forces Act 2006) and military command
at all times. Failure to comply with the law may result in criminal charges against
an individual, and/or civil proceedings being brought against the MOD. Unlike the
police, Service personnel simply have the same powers of arrest as ordinary citizens.
Of course this may just be budgetary in nature (a robbing Peter to pay Paul scenario): while the MOD seems to be able to do chargeback to the civil authorities for military aid and thus spending from it's dosh pile, that doesn't seem to apply to this situation although this may also depend on how long the troops are deployed for (from the above linked document).
2.28. Context.
HM Treasury rules direct that government departments must charge for services that do not form part of their funded tasks and that departments must not profit from activity carried out on behalf of another department. With a few exceptions, MACA activity is not funded within the MOD budget and is conducted on a repayment basis.
So potentially 5,000 extra bodies for armed policing/security duties at zero cost, a near doubling of the 5,647 Authorised Firearms Officers (2014 figures). Although it's not clear so far what rules of engagement the troops will operate under. Also, as noted above, they have very limited policing powers of arrest (about the same or less as a PCSO).
So, are the troops being deployed to reassure the public/deter terrorists? or ????? |
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26-11-2019 03:22:41