South Wales leads counter-terror exercise

Dyfed-Powys Police in South Wales are in the process of leading a counter-terrorism exercise to test the response of emergency services in such an attack. The two-day exercise is being held at various locations including Ffos Las racecourse in Carmarthenshire, and is based on scenarios such as the attacks which took place in France and Belgium. Residents living nearby have been reassured not to be concerned by the noise associated with the exercise. Senior officers are managing the exercise and are liasing with officials from the Welsh government and UK government to test coordination at a national level. Similar exercises are also taking place in Bridgend county and Rhondda Cynon Taff. Chief constable Jon Stratford, South Wales police assistant, who is leading the operation, also confirmed that the UK Government's emergency response committee, Cobra, would also be participating. Stratford said: "This isn't being hosted in Wales because we think there is a threat to Wales. This is part of a rotating exercise programme. Clearly, we model our scenarios upon the prevailing threat and so Paris and Belgium do feature heavily in these scenarios. "What the exercise will test is not just the ability of front-line police officers, paramedics, fire officers to actually respond to the scene, but we will also be standing up the command and control measures that work across the force areas. "I urge the public not to be alarmed... it is all part of the exercise. We need to make these exercises as realistic as possible."