Forces are providing officers with new specialist skills to enable them to detect small changes in behaviour in a bid to tackle terrorism.

Project Servator, which was launched yesterday across the capital following a two-year trial, is a pioneering policing tactic used to deter, detect and disrupt terrorism.

Through the use of strong scientific research, the techniques have beendeveloped and tested by security experts at the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) in partnership with the City of London Police.

Superintendent Nick Aldworth, Head of the Met’s Project Servator team, called the project a “game changer” due to the scientific element involved in behavioural detection.

Covert and visible officers are undergoing training to spot small nuances in people’s behaviour, such as signs of stress, which may indicate criminal intent.

Other tactics include the deployment of dog units, Mounted Branch, firearms officers, vehicle checkpoints, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and CCTV.

Other than the MPS, City of London Police and BTP, the project has been adopted by five other forces, including Essex and North Yorkshire Police, since it was launched by City of London Police in 2014. Eight more are set to follow within the next 18 months.

The deployments can happen anywhere, at any time and aim to send out a strong message about what the police service is capable of delivering.

Supt Aldworth told Police Oracle: “I think from a policing perspective one of the most important things that I would highlight is that we have got four forces working together routinely in London – so we’ve broken out of the traditional silos that me and the police like to build up.

“You’ve got British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, The Met and the City of London working coherently, effectively as a single and very large team of officers working with multiple tactics for a single purpose.”

Various levels of training will be provided from operational officers to supervisors and strategic leaders.

“The most important piece of this is we’re taking officers who are already public-facing operational officers, and we are using those solid policing skills towards a counter-terrorism effort. All we’re bolting on is some specialist skills around behavioural detection,” Supt Aldworth added.

“We’re certainly encouraging as many as those as we can, and as many others as we can, to adopt Servator – we know it works, the science that sits behind it is proven, our pilots and trials over the past couple of years has proved that it works.”

The plans also involve building a stronger relationship with the community, including businesses and security staff, to encourage them to report suspicious activity and to be more vigilant in order to deter potential terrorists.

Supt Aldworth explained: “Probably for the first time rather than just asking them [the public] to report stuff, we are telling them what to look for and actually encouraging them to be a part of us, so when we’re not here we get a really strong degree of reassurance that we are going to be getting that information in.”

Since the Met launched its pilot teams in 2016, its Project Servator officers have gathered more than 500 pieces of intelligence about suspected criminal activity and conducted more than 550 searches, leading to 176 arrests for various offences including firearms and weapons offences, drugs, money laundering, robbery and theft.

The City of London Police has conducted 938 searches leading to 547 arrests since 2014 was first pionneered in the Square Mile. A further 233 vehicles have been seized and 174 drug warnings handed out.

Superintendent Helen Isaac, of the National Project Servator Team based at the City of London Police, said: “Officers have made arrests on suspicion of a wide range of offences and have taken drugs and weapons, including firearms and knives off the streets, seized uninsured vehicles and located wanted criminals. Hundreds of pieces of intelligence about criminal activity have been gathered and shared across policing.

“I am incredibly pleased, we knew when we first started using it we realised it was going to be a fantastic tactic to use. I am surprised by how many forces are interested.”