Law enforcement

THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE 

Who are the British Counter-Terrorism police, how many officers are there, are they armed and what do they do?

They are the first line of defence for any terror attack in the UK.

Before any of the military units can be called into action on UK soil, authorisation must be given by the civilian authorities.

This authorisation usually comes from a crisis response committee held in special conference rooms within Whitehall.

Sometimes referred to as COBR or COBRA, these committees are headed by the Prime Minister and  other top civilian leaders.

As the politicians and security chiefs sit in committee, it will be the police on the scene of a terrorist incident who will be the first responders.

Each United Kingdom police constabulary maintains a specialist firearms capability with tactical team members trained to Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) standard or higher.

AFOs are roled with carrying out law enforcement operations outside the capability of regular, unarmed officers.