An innovative police scheme that deploys teams of officers to deter, detect and disrupt criminal and terrorist activity in crowded places is being carried out today and during the rest of this week and will be used at various times throughout the year.



The tactic, known as Project Servator, sees the deployment of both highly visible and covert police officers and staff alongside other resources such as dogs, firearms, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) and CCTV cameras in busy town and centres and at large events.

Servator will enhance the force’s existing crime prevention and public safety tactics and is already by a number of forces across the UK including City of London Police, British Transport Police (BTP), Essex Police, Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

These deployments are by design highly unpredictable and are intelligence-led. The public will see officers specially trained to deter, disrupt and detect crime using tactics developed and tested over a five-year period by the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) in partnership with City of London Police. It was also used extensively by Police Scotland during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Key to the success of Project Servator is the support of people living, working and visiting the county to be extra eyes and ears for the police, reporting any suspicious behaviour to help make it even harder for criminals to succeed.

Superintendent Dave Charnock, explained: “Building on the national success of Project Servator in disrupting a wide range of criminality whilst reassuring the public, Merseyside Police is now undertaking a programme of work to roll it out locally at various events and locations across the county.

“In doing so, we are enhancing our existing tactics by adopting the best practice developed within policing across the UK in order to help keep key sites and crowded places within Merseyside safe and secure.

“The deployments are designed to be unpredictable and can turn up at any time. One day our tactics may be highly visible, the next we will be working in a more covert way. The aim of Project Servator is to combine effective police deployments with increased levels of vigilance within our communities, to deter, detect and ultimately disrupt a broad spectrum of criminality, everything from pickpocketing to terrorism.

“You can help us keep your area and community safe by engaging with the Servator teams if you see them deployed in your area and by speaking to officers to find out how you can play a part.”

“We want to reassure communities that we are working together to keep everyone safe. These tactics are not in response to a specific threat or the recent tragic events in Manchester and London.

“We are confident that local businesses and the public will be reassured by this approach. They should know that they have a key role to play in all of this too. Their eyes and ears provide a surveillance resource that is second to none.

“We continue to call on the public to be vigilant and to report anything that they deem to be suspicious immediately by telling a police officer, or by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency or by calling the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.