§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the occasions on which the Metropolitan police armoured cars have been used in the past year.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo, it would not be in the interest of security to do so.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions over the past 12 months the Metropolitan police air support unit has used Hele-Tele surveillance cameras; what were the occasions and who authorised their use; and on what occasion Hele-Tele was first used operationally by the air support unit.
§ Mr. Giles ShawWe understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that over the past 12 months the Hele-Tele surveillance camera was used by his air support unit on about 30 occasions for the following purposes:
- (i) to assist security operations at such events as state visits, Trooping the Colour and the moving of high-risk prisoners from prison to court;
- (ii) to assist with traffic control at major sporting events such as the Cup Final;
- (iii) to assist with the command and control of police officers deployed at demonstrations and marches; and
- (iv) to assist in the preparation of training exercises.
The Commissioner assures us that on each occasion the use of the Hele-Tele was fully within the guidelines for the use of equipment in police surveillance operations, a copy of which is in the Library. Authority was given in each case by the commander in charge of the operation.
Hele-Tele was first use at the Notting Hill Gate carnival in 1977.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Metropolitan police first acquired stocks of CS gas.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the Metropolitan police first acquired CS in the early 1960s, for criminal siege purposes.