16,000 police officers will keep VIPs safe at COP26 climate change summit
POLICE will employ 16,000 officers to protect VIPs at the COP26 climate change summit. Armed guards will patrol host city Glasgow while speedboats zip up and down its River Clyde. The Queen, PM Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden will be among the guests at the 30,000-delegate event. The police — half of them […]
POLICE will employ 16,000 officers to protect VIPs at the COP26 climate change summit.
Armed guards will patrol host city Glasgow while speedboats zip up and down its River Clyde.
The Queen, PM Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden will be among the guests at the 30,000-delegate event.
The police — half of them drafted in from outside Scotland — have spent weeks preparing.
Officers have had riot training. Many will bear Glock pistols.
MoD police will monitor the Clyde on which there will be movement restrictions.
Some 200 dogs will sniff out any explosives and help control crowds in the city where Extinction Rebellion have threatened disruption.
Former police divisional commander Kevin Moore said security operations had “tightened up massively” over the years.
He said: “You can guarantee all of the hotels where delegates will be staying, and conference centres, would have been gone through with a fine-tooth comb.”
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He said such procedures were now “business as usual” for police but cautioned: “It doesn’t matter what you put in place. It’s never foolproof.”
Mr Moore said it was hard to see XR causing “too much disruption” given the “ring of steel around the conference area”.
The government will pay the security tab for the summit which starts next Sunday.