Britain today gave a go-ahead to a reserve force of armed officers to protect London against possible terror attacks.
The 11-million-pound (over USD 13 million) plan will involve training, buying guns and a new armoury for around 200 officers from the Territorial Support Group (TSG) who will be trained as a back-up force.
London's Deputy Mayor for Policing Sophie Linden today approved the contingency plan, which was ordered in the wake of last year's Paris attack which left 130 people dead.
"There is no change in the plan to raise the number of armed officers by about 600. Of those, 400 will be officers in the Force Firearms Unit (SCO19) and the remaining number of officers within other roles across the Met (Metropolitan Police Service), and one of those options includes officers from the TSG," a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.
The TSG is in the front line of policing violent protests and disorder in the capital and carries out routine patrols of crime hotspots in the British capital.
The officers will not carry weapons in their normal public order duties or while on patrol in London and will only be called on if the Metropolitan Police's firearms capability is committed to dealing with multiple coordinated attacks, Evening Standard reported.
Many extra officers are being deployed this year to armed response vehicles which are on permanent patrol.
Scotland Yard is spending about 25 million pounds on equipping the recruits.
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