More armed police on London streets, Khan and Bernard announce

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Metropolitan Police commissioner, have announced that an increased number of armed police are expected to be seen on London’s streets. Bernard confirmed that the decision to increase the number of armed police at well-know landmarks was a result of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe. The move was an attempt to reassure the public and deter potential attackers. The number of armed officers are due to be increased by 600, bringing the total to 2,800. The increased firearms teams have been trained to confront heavily-armed terrorists and will be stationed at visible locations, patrolling randomly around the clock. Bernard said: "We have no intelligence that there will be an attack shortly but what we do know is what we have seen in western Europe. "We have seen attacks in Germany, in Belgium, in France and we would be foolish to ignore that, so it's important that we get officers out there with firearms to respond." Khan said: "It's really important that Londoners are reassured that the police service, that the security service, that all of us are doing our bit to keep Londoners in our city safe. That means Londoners will see more armed response officers, they will see more armed vehicles. "The threat level hasn't changed but we are learning the lessons from Europe, from Nice, from Paris, from Munich."