Terror threat 'will not distract police'

Police at Heathrow airport remain on high alert

Scotland Yard has denied some police services will be overlooked as the force concentrates its efforts on tackling the threat from Osama Bin Laden's network.

The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that other police services such as school liaison, crime prevention and policing football matches would "drop off the edge" to pay for the cost of the heightened security.

But a Scotland Yard spokesman refuted that and told BBC News Online: "You could not find a single Londoner who did not have it [the terrorist threat] on their minds.

"But it doesn't mean that other things are knocked off the shelf. It doesn't mean everything else is going to go to hell."

Activity 'reappraised'

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andrew Trotter admitted on Tuesday: "The terrorist attacks in the US have caused us to reappraise our activity."

The terrorist threat took over from mugging and street crime as the Metropolitan Police's top priority after a meeting on 28 September.

An extra 1,000 police officers are on duty in London at any one time, and have been since shortly after the 11 September attacks.

Mr Trotter said: "High visibility policing will continue to provide both reassurance and a deterrent at all the vital sites across London."

But he said: "I want all those in the capital to know that it remains business as usual for the Met.

"Those committing crime have not gone away but our attention has not been diverted. We are still carrying out our day to day work of catching criminals."

Mr Trotter did confirm that the Met would be investigating the possibility of transferring some of its responsibilities to civilian bodies.

This included the policing of football matches.

He told The Guardian: "Football is awash with money, yet we still spend large sums of money policing matches."

Funding need

It is possible that, if the Met is unable to meet the extra costs of the heightened security operation, it might ask for an extra payment from the Home Office on top of its annual £2bn budget.

The Home Office has a contingency fund for just such events.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Authority said its chairman, Toby Harris, and the Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, had met Home Secretary David Blunkett on Monday to discuss the implications of the heightened security.

But she said she was not aware if the financial implications were discussed.