Post to Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur

3.18.28am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 17th Sep 2007

I have the highest of respect for this hard working Assistant Commissioner who is a dedicated officer with a great deal of integrity. I have met with the Assistant Commissioner at various functions and have always known that he would be heading for the top! His recent portfolio includes looking after the security for the Olympics in 2012.

However, recent comments made by Tarique raise some questions as to whether foreign police forces will be armed and on the streets of London during the run up to the Olympics and whilst it actually takes place. He seemed to confirm that this may be the case and he stated that he wanted to bring about a public debate on this issue.

My response to this is that within an increasingly integrated network of police and military intelligence, work programmes undertaken with international police forces are fine as long as these forces are not armed on the streets of London. The only armed individuals I am willing to have on the streets of this great City are those of the Metropolitan Police Service and our own intelligence services and even then, I would like the armed presence to be hidden and out of sight.

Having armed police from international forces means that we will have officers trained to different standards within London and they will have the potential to exert lethal force.

I have therefore started a petition on my site, www.fiyazmughal.org.uk where I call upon Sir Ian Blair and the Mayor of London to ensure that our law enforcement officers are the only ones capable of taking armed action if needed during the Olympics.