Met Police to get 600 extra armed officers following Paris attacks

Britain's largest police force is set to increase its number of armed officers by more than a quarter in the wake of a string of deadly terror attacks involving gunmen.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe revealed the number of armed officers will increase by 600, taking the total to around 2,800.

The increase has been mooted since November's Paris attacks, which saw 130 people killed.

"The tragic attacks in Paris reinforced the vital role that firearms officers would be called upon to play on behalf of all of us, to run forward and confront the deadly threat that such attackers would pose," Sir Bernard said.

"The Met will now start putting plans in place to raise the number of armed officers that we have by 600.

"This increase will more than double the number of armed response vehicles on our streets and grow a highly trained specialist part of our capability. This is because we know that the threat we currently face is likely to be a spontaneous attack that requires a fast response to deal with it."

ITV London's Senior Correspondent Simon Harris reported that Sir Bernard has spoken to the Prime Minister about London's "response after the Paris attack".

The announcement comes after it was revealed that police marksmen are now being told to go forward to confront gunmen before helping the wounded in the event of an attack.

A number of European nations remain on high alert for terror attacks, and the UK's current threat level is "severe", meaning an attack is deemed "highly likely".

In an interview on LBC radio on Wednesday Sir Bernard said he is meeting with armed officers every fortnight to maintain morale, after he raised concerns about the amount of legal protection they receive.

The comments came in the wake of the death of Jermaine Baker, 28, as police tried to stop an alleged prison break in north London in December.

David Cameron is considering legal reforms to make it more difficult to prosecute police marksmen who shoot terrorists.

But former-Northumbria chief constable Sue Sim has expressed concern that Britain's regional forces would not be capable of responding in depth to a terrorism attack similar to the events that unfolded in Paris last year

She told 5 Live Daily: "A local force like Northumbria could not, in any way, cope with that type of incident other than giving a very, very initial first response, and I would suggest that would be the same for any of the forces in the country."

She added that it would be "favourable" for the Government to fund any possible expansions for regional firearms units.

"I think that would be more favourable rather than expecting individual chief constables to increase by significant numbers their firearms units when there isn't the demand at all times," she said.