Overview

• Scotland Yard has ordered hundreds of elite personal protection officers to supplement the 7,000-strong Met deployment at the Notting Hill Carnival.
• Many RaSP officers have expressed frustration at being pulled from VIP duties to perform basic stewarding and have had to secure new uniforms and body-worn video training.
• Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist warned that high crowd density poses the greatest danger, raising fears of a mass casualty scenario if controls fail.
• Operational pressures have surged since October 2023, with nearly 52,000 shifts devoted to policing pro-Palestinian and other large-scale protests.
• Critics including London Assembly vice chairman Susan Hall are urging permanent crowd-management reforms and dedicated funding to avoid ad hoc specialist redeployments.