British Transport Police to be armed to combat terrorism threat

Armed patrols to be deployed according to operational need

Armed teams of the British Transport Police (BTP) are to patrol the railways and London Underground in response to the terrorism threat, it has been announced.

In a written statement, the Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, said the Government has been considering the resilience of the overall police armed capability and has concluded that it would be beneficial to enhance this by providing the BTP with an armed capability of its own.

By sanctioning the development of this armed capability, it will reduce the burden on other police forces which currently provide armed support to the BTP.

Hammond stated that this is not a major new capability in terms of overall armed policing, but by training BTP officers to carry out armed patrolling of the rail network it equips BTP with a capability already available to other police forces. Armed patrols will be deployed according to operational need.

Hammond said: "The security of the railways and London Underground will be further enhanced by the development of a British Transport Police (BTP) armed capability that will be deployed as appropriate in response to the terrorism threat level at any given time."

Further information:
Department for Transport