Intelligence

Armed, dangerous and out to save lives

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

By Stewart Tendler, Crime Correspondent
WITH their burly build, casual clothes and powerful cars, Scotland Yard’s Specialist Firearms Officers could be mistaken for East End crooks, but the men who killed the terrorist suspect at Stockwell station are the cream of British firearms units.

The expensive cars parked outside their Central London headquarters would grace any self-respecting gangster’s garage — and may well have done, since many have been seized from criminals.

For much of the time the officers are disguised and out of the public gaze, but when they are spotted it is often in dramatic circumstances: SFO officers disguised as cleaners and workmen rushed and captured the gang about to steal the £200 million Millennium Diamond from the Dome.

Each of the 80 to 100 officers in the unit is chosen for the special duties after proving himself as an ordinary marksman and then working as a member of an armed response team. They then undergo new training, including working with the SAS, and attend frequent refresher courses.

They learn abseiling, streetcraft, high-speed driving skills as well as close-combat and siege tactics. They also have rest periods as trainers to ensure that they never get stale.

They carry a cut-down version of the Heckler & Koch carbine, which can be hidden under a coat or jacket, and the Austrian-made Glock automatic, which has become a standard weapon.

July 23, 2005 at 08:49 AM in Special Branch | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Sir James Waddell

Planning reforms of the police service and new powers in response to the threat from terrorism

TERRORISM as a serious modern problem goes back to the 1970s, when Sir James Waddell was among those in the Home Office who wrestled with the civic dilemmas that it posed. The threat was felt first internationally, and then in Britain itself with the beginning of the IRA campaign on the mainland, notably the Birmingham pub bombing in 1974.

A strong but carefully judged response from the Government was clearly needed, and the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Procedures) Act followed later in the year, enabling Special Branch officers to make on-the-spot checks on travellers between Ireland and mainland Britain. In addition, intelligence gathering by the security services was stepped up, but Waddell remained conscious of the need to preserve traditional liberties if the terrorists were not to gain a victory by default.

Waddell, who was Deputy Under- Secretary of State at the Home Office, also took the interdepartmental lead in response to national and civic emergencies more generally. His calm and balanced forward thinking were called upon especially at the time of the Torrey Canyon disaster (the first big “supertanker” incident), the Grosvenor Square and Red Lion Square demonstrations in Central London against the Vietnam War, and the National Front disturbances in Southall.

As well as developing an interdepartmental response to terrorism and other national alerts, Waddell handled Home Office liaisons with MI5. During the course of his career he also made important contributions to the modernisation of the police, and to the planning of the new towns.

Although he was always a stickler, his upright stature and stern expression hid a crisp, dry wit. With junior staff he took a kindly, almost schoolmasterly approach, and many found in him an inspiring model.

James Henderson Waddell was born in Edinburgh in 1914 and educated at George Heriot’s School and Edinburgh University. In 1936 he took the Civil Service entrance examination and was appointed to the Assistance Board, and in 1940 he was transferred to the Ministry of Information.

Dedicated to ideals of Christian service and deeply troubled by the loss of life in 1914-18, he was disturbed by the increasing pace of preparation for a further war, such as widespread evacuations and distribution of gas masks. For the first few months of war he held to his pacifist principles but they were soon undermined by the bombing of London. Further, he did not feel justified in claiming to know better than the elected Government.

Accordingly, when the call-up reached his age group he enlisted in the General Service Corps and found himself at the beginning of 1944 in 61 Reconnaissance Regiment. After landing in France eight days after D-Day he was wounded in the leg, brought to safety tied to the top of an armoured car, and repatriated. After leaving hospital he was released from the Army and returned to the Civil Service.

From 1946 to 1966 he was at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, with an interlude in the Cabinet Office from 1961 to 1963, after which he was promoted to the rank of deputy secretary. At a time of urgent nationwide reconstruction, and with Macmillan pledging to build 300,000 houses, Waddell was concerned, inter alia, with the planning and establishment of the new towns: Harlow, Stevenage, Welwyn, Milton Keynes and Telford.

In 1966 he was transferred to the Home Office and given special responsibility for the Police Department. This meant that over the next nine years, until his retirement, he supervised many changes in the organisation of the British police on its continuing march from amateurish local constabularies to modern and increasingly centralised force.

The Police Act of 1964, based on a royal commission report, started a programme of fundamental reforms to the structure of police forces throughout the country. The 120 or so small police forces were consolidated into some 50 larger ones, which formed the foundation for today’s forces.

At the same time, a new constitutional balance, known as the tripartite system, was introduced. This made chief constables accountable to new police authorities while maintaining their operational independence under the Home Secretary. Thanks to Waddell’s tact, judgment and integrity, these changes were smoothly introduced, and the new system both improved police effectiveness and increased public confidence in the service.

This was especially important after a Times exposé alleged wideranging corruption in the Metropolitan Police, and Waddell worked hard with the new Commissioner, Robert Mark, to regain public support. In particular, arrangements for handling complaints were developed which were both acceptable to the police and credible to the public. It therefore came as no surprise, after his retirement from the Home Office, when Waddell was appointed one of the deputy chairmen of the Police Complaints Board, where he remained until 1981.

Waddell was a keen sportsman, playing tennis and hockey, and learning to sail in the 1950s. In private life, as in public, he was modest, generous and unfailingly loyal and supportive. He was appointed CB in 1960 and knighted in 1974.

His wife, Dorothy, whom he married in 1940, died in 2001. He is survived by their son and daughter.

January 14, 2004 at 12:11 AM in Special Branch | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Times Online - First woman commander of the Special Branch

Times Online - Britain

SCOTLAND YARD has appointed its first woman commander of the Special Branch to lead the fight against terrorism at a time of greatly heightened security concern.

Mother and Commander fighting terrorism
By Stewart Tendler, Crime Correspondent



SCOTLAND YARD has appointed its first woman commander of the Special Branch to lead the fight against terrorism at a time of greatly heightened security concern.

Commander Janet Williams joins Eliza Manningham- Buller, the head of MI5, in the front line of anti-terrorism intelligence, and is in charge of 560 officers responsible for gathering intelligence on terrorist suspects, protecting the Prime Minister and combating espionage.

Mrs Williams took up her post last week at a time when Special Branch is running 90 counter-terrorist operations a month. Mrs Williams has never worked in the branch before but is a highly experienced counter-terrorism detective. In the 1990s, she was with SO13, Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch, investigating IRA and Middle Eastern terrorism.

Now in her early 40s, Mrs Williams, who is married with children, is a graduate who joined the Metropolitan Police in 1982. She was Chief Superintendent in charge of Enfield until early this year when she was chosen to go on a course for potential chief constables.

Two other women head Scotland Yard frontline units. Detective Chief Superintendent Sharon Kerr runs the Flying Squad and Commander Cressida Dick is head of Operation Trident, which combats gun crime in the black community.

However a report two years ago showed that 95 per cent of the Branch’s detectives are male. One reason may be the traditions and work of one of the units, the nearest thing Britain has to a secret police.

It was formed in 1883 as the Special Irish Branch to fight Fenian bombers who had attacked targets including the offices of The Times, and was renamed in 1888. In its time, Special Branch has spied on Lenin, protected Sir Winston Churchill and interrogated Cold War spies. Once recruited to the branch, officers often complete their careers there.

November 30, 2003 at 06:23 PM in Special Branch | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home