London prepares for major security operation ahead of Queen’s funeral

London’s chiefs of police and doctors are bracing for a security nightmare at the Queen’s funeral on Monday, as they balance the need to protect the world’s top leaders and dignitaries with the public’s desire to mourn their beloved. monarch.

Some have compared the scale event to the London Olympics, but in fact, the state funeral – the first in Britain since Winston Churchill died in 1965 – will likely trump the 2012 sporting extravaganza.

Codenamed “Operation London Bridge”, the arrangements for the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch had been carefully scrutinized for years by the many agencies involved, with the Queen herself signing off on all the details before her death.

In an interview with Sky News earlier this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said of the scale: “If you think about the London marathon, the carnival, the previous royal weddings, the Olympics – it’s all of that in one.”

The three police forces operating in the British capital – the London Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and the British Transport Police – began their well-rehearsed plans in London as soon as the death of Elizabeth II was announced on 8 September.

The funeral will be the “biggest individual policing event” that London’s Metropolitan Police have held, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Stuart Cundy told reporters on Friday. “As a one-time event, this is bigger than the 2012 Olympics.

It’s bigger than the Platinum Jubilee weekend. And the range of police, police and all those who support the operation is really immense,” he said. It is also set to be “the biggest global protection operation the Metropolitan Police has ever undertaken” as “hundreds of world leaders and VIPs” arrive in London, he said.

When asked specifically how high-profile guests would be transported to London’s Westminster Abbey for the funeral service, Cundy declined to give specific details, saying it would not be conducive to a “safe event and policing operation”.

Meanwhile, the gigantic logistical operation involved numerous other aspects, such as doctors, toilets, street cleaning and road closures. The size of the crowds turning out to pay their last respects is “impossible” to predict, according to Andy Byford, London’s Transport Commissioner (TfL).

Byford described the funeral as “the biggest event” the transport network has ever faced in an interview with British news agency PA Media. Comparing to the Olympics, he said: “This is more challenging. It’s a long time frame, and while estimates exist, it’s impossible to say for sure how many people will attend the various elements, so we’ve assumed the highest possible number and are aligning our service to match that.”

Invitations were sent to world leaders, politicians, public figures and European royalty, as well as more than 500 international dignitaries. The security considerations are mind boggling.

The British government is taking the lead on logistics but declined to comment on specific “operational security arrangements”.

US President Joe Biden was one of the first to confirm his presence at the event, which will be attended by up to 2,000 people.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will also travel to London, as will many other royals and global leaders. Hundreds of police officers from other forces are supporting the Met, but the presence of so many VIPs will add to the pressure.

“Everything will have been negotiated,” Morgan said, explaining that some concessions will have been made. There are simply not enough police and protection agents to give an escorted convoy to everyone who would normally welcome you on an independent visit. So people are being brought together on a logistical basis,” Morgan said.

Simon Morgan is a former royal protection officer who was responsible for overseeing senior royals, including the queen and new king, between 2007 and 2013. “It will be perfect,” he, who now runs the private security firm Trojan Consultancy, told CNN.

“The policing plan and the security behind it is a dual operation: security and public safety are intrinsic.” Morgan said the events surrounding the state funeral have been going on for decades.

“London Bridge came into being in the 1960s. It is subject to revision at least three times a year”.

“Elements are discussed and indeed some elements have already been used in isolation,” he said, citing the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002, royal weddings and the Platinum Jubilee as examples.

Regular reviews have been vital in combating the changing nature of security threats – from Irish nationalism in the 1970s and 1980s to Islamic extremism more recently. White House aides declined to provide specific security details for President Biden’s visit, but say they are working with their British counterparts to ensure presidential security demands are met.

The FBI will monitor possible threat streams and will share any information with the UK security service MI5. When reports emerged last week that world leaders would be forced to travel by bus to the funeral, US officials were skeptical and rejected the suggestion that Biden would travel to Westminster Abbey on a bus.

In 2018, when other world leaders traveled together on a bus to a World War I memorial in Paris, then US President Donald Trump traveled separately in his own vehicle.

The White House explained at the time that the separate trip was “due to security protocols”. “Everything will have been negotiated,” Morgan said, explaining that some concessions will have been made. There are simply not enough police and protection agents to give an escorted convoy to everyone who would normally welcome you on an independent visit.

So people are being brought together on a logistical basis,” Morgan said. “There is no compromise on security and many visiting dignitaries will be very aware of the optics of requiring their own protection teams.” Police should also consider the “fixed threat,” he said.

“It’s someone who is fixated on a member of the royal family. Many of these people are subject to mental health orders and have subsequently come to the attention of medical professionals and sometimes police.” “Single-cause” activists also pose a risk, Morgan said.

The force has already received harsh criticism over its treatment of Republican protesters. “Each of these causes wants to use global media attention to highlight what is important to them,” he added. Symon Hill of Oxford told CNN how he was aggressively arrested after saying “not my king” at a ceremony that proclaimed Charles III’s accession.

He said he was “shocked” after “the police intervened, grabbed me, handcuffed me and put me in the back of a police van”. He added: “Certainly arbitrary arrest is not something we should have in a democratic society.”

According to Morgan, the police do not intend to ban peaceful protests, but to ensure public order, as demonstrations can sometimes provoke confrontations when emotions are running high.

“The police are in a ‘screw you if you do it, screw you if you don’t’ situation,” he said. While the police are spearheading the operation, many others are closely involved – among them military chiefs, transport and public services.

Health concerns are paramount. In addition to official emergency services, nearly 2,000 St. John Ambulance provided 24-hour support in London and Windsor for the laying as well as her funeral.

“In our planning for this sad occasion, we estimated that we would need about 1,000 volunteers, but more than twice as many said they can volunteer,” said the St. John, Mike Gibbons, in a statement.

Patrick Goulbourne, assistant commissioner for resilience and operational control at the London Fire Brigade, told CNN that his team has worked “for many years with partners”.

They performed fire safety inspections at more than 40 major central transportation hubs and also performed around 160 fire safety inspections a day at hotels, restaurants, stores and more. In addition, there were 10 fire engines and around 50 firefighters helping people in line to see the queen’s coffin 24 hours a day.