Sutton’s Borough Commander Dave Stringer has issued a statement following the announcement of a capital wide initiative regarding armed officers.

“You may have seen the announcement today about Operation Hercules. This will visibly deploy more armed officers on proactive operations and targeted patrols, both in vehicles and on foot, at locations across London.

“I wanted to personally to reassure you that this is not based on any specific intelligence, but is a long term response to best use the increasing number of armed officers we have as part of our commitment to make London as hostile an environment as possible for terrorists.

“These armed officers will be actively engaging with the public but the vast majority of interactions we have with our community will continue to be through our unarmed neighbourhood teams.

“Please let your Safer Neighbourhood Team know if you have any concerns or comments about our plans to keep London safe.”