A police officer stands guard in front of Buckingham Palace
(Picture: REUTERS)The security operation in the wake of the Queen’s death and surrounding her funeral is set to be the biggest the UK has ever seen. Thousands of officers will be deployed for the Queen’s lying in state and for her funeral.
Security will also be required as crowds come to pay their respects at royal palaces across the UK in the coming days.
Millions of people are expected to pay their respects in London over the mourning period, while members of the royal family and visiting heads of state from around the world will also need protection.
A huge security operation will be required by Scotland Yard when the Queen’s coffin returns to the capital. She will lie in state in Westminster Hall for at least three days before her funeral and members of the public will be allowed to file past.
Police will have to guard the route when the Queen’s coffin is moved from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, and then for the state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
There will be uniformed police and plain clothes officers mingling with the crowd and reserves of the Territorial Support Group to deal with any trouble.
Marksmen could be deployed on rooftops. Police and security services will be alert to the prospect of terror threats or incidents. Officers will be deployed from the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, which monitors risk to politicians, members of the royal family and other public figures.
Former counter-terrorism national co-ordinator, Nick Aldworth, said the plan on how to keep the public and dignitaries safe has been years in the making and is regularly revised.
He said armed protection officers will need to be drawn from across the country. Police and security services will oversee the plans from a central operations room in Lambeth in London, with the Metropolitan Police assuming overall responsibility and other forces taking charge on activity in their areas. A senior police officer will head up the operation.
The central operations room will be divided into sections looking at things such as the armed response, protection teams, intelligence, roads, queues and landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Mr Aldworth said.
