London to beef up its police presence for New Year's Eve

The city of London would be turned into a fortress on New Year's Eve as armed police from the Scotland Yard and Metropolitan Police, along with covert officers and dog units will patrol its streets, to avoid any untoward incidents.

According to Superintendent Nick Aldworth, who was quoted by the Guardian, has said that while there was no specific threat, he urged the people to remain vigilant.

Aldworth said, "The policing plan has been developed and reviewed following the tragic incidents that have occurred through the year. We will have the right response of officers at the right locations; this will be a mix of overt and covert officers deployed, as well as dogs, and the use of CCTV and automatic number plate recognition."

"People can expect to see armed officers in the area, and we will be using vehicle barriers across the event area. Security is paramount for us, so we ask for patience and cooperation when getting through the check and search points," the superintendent added.

A spokeswoman for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said, "The safety of Londoners is the mayor's number one priority. He and his team are in close contact with the Metropolitan police, [Transport for London] and other key agencies, and we have appropriate plans for security in place. We encourage everyone coming to the event to be vigilant and to report anything of concern to a steward or police officer."

The UK has been hit by a string of terror attacks in this year. There was a car attack at the Westminster Palace in March this year, followed by similar attacks at London Bridge and Finsbury Park Mosque in June. An explosion had also rocked the Parsons Green station of the Tube in September, injuring 30 people.

The most deadly attack took place in Manchester, where a bomb blast killed 22 people and injuring scores, at an Ariana Grande concert in May.