24-hour armed police 'in all boroughs' as guns fear rises

Scotland Yard is to take dramatic action to meet the mounting threat of gun crime in London.

Yard chief Sir John Stevens has ordered a review of the police response to armed criminals, signalling a significant increase in the number of police carrying guns.

The move could mean each borough in London getting its own armed response car on 24-hour patrol. Some detective units such as Operation Trident, which tackles armed gangsters, may also be issued with firearms. Another proposal is to issue fastresponse teams such as the Territorial Support Group with non-lethal weapons like Taser stun guns.

Already 50 extra officers are being drafted into armed response teams patrolling London so they can reach incidents more quickly.

Sir John called senior officers to Scotland Yard at the weekend for an emergency summit after officers spoke of the firearms threat at a meeting hosted by the Metropolitan Police Federation last Thursday.

Officers from constable to inspector spoke of their fears of increasingly coming face- to- face with armed criminals without

armed back-up. In particular, police are alarmed about an incident in Leytonstone in January when a van carrying six unarmed officers was sprayed with machinegun fire.

A woman officer was slightly injured, but Glen Smyth, chairman of the Met Federation, said it "could have resulted in the mass murder of police officers".

In a statement today Sir John said: "Whilst our targeting of organised crime has led to the number of the most serious gun-related incidents falling in London, we fear guns are increasingly available to criminals and are increasingly having to deploy armed officers to incidents.

"We do not want to see every police officer routinely armed, but if we have to increase the number of officers trained to use guns in order to make London safer then we will not hesitate to do so.

"These officers are on the streets night and day trying to make the capital a safer place and it is absolutely right that we listen to their concerns. "

An extra £1 million is already being spent on the Met's firearms teams.