Photo: BMW Motorrad
With acts of terrorism spreading throughout Europe lately some major capitals are deploying more armed police forces to guard the safety of their citizens. London also found a great way to improve response times by pairing troops with cool adventure bikes.
Special anti-terrorist armed police forces will be using gray BMW F800GS motorcycles in order to provide a quick response in case an attack happens in London.
Bike operating skills won’t be necessary, as the armed police will ride passenger, with one of their colleagues from the motorized division maneuvering the motorcycle.
"Traffic can be gridlocked at the best of times - certainly in the times of an attack,” an officer told Sky News. “If you look at Europe, at Paris and Belgium, traffic becomes a major impingement on a rapid response. We've looked at tactics and pillion riding with motorcycles gives us a very fast and effective response. The guys practice riding off road so they can bump up and down across pavements and make really good progress from A to B."
With the terror threat level marked as “severe” in the UK, the police consider that a future attack is a matter of time. Six hundred extra specialist officers will be on the lookout with an extra 1,500 following to join in a couple of years after they’ll be properly trained to deal with the worst situations.
Seeing that many armed forces around the city might seem scary, but the troops have been instructed to be friendly, to approach the public and be approachable. So don’t be shy asking them a question or having a little chit chat about their new bikes.
Speaking of the bikes, the BMW F800GSs are powered by 798 cc 4-stroke inline-two cylinder engines developing 85 hp and 83 Nm of torque. Sprinting through traffic won’t be a problem even with a fully armed officer riding pillion, while the high ground clearance and long suspension travel makes it good at mounting curbs or going off-road.
Bike operating skills won’t be necessary, as the armed police will ride passenger, with one of their colleagues from the motorized division maneuvering the motorcycle.
"Traffic can be gridlocked at the best of times - certainly in the times of an attack,” an officer told Sky News. “If you look at Europe, at Paris and Belgium, traffic becomes a major impingement on a rapid response. We've looked at tactics and pillion riding with motorcycles gives us a very fast and effective response. The guys practice riding off road so they can bump up and down across pavements and make really good progress from A to B."
With the terror threat level marked as “severe” in the UK, the police consider that a future attack is a matter of time. Six hundred extra specialist officers will be on the lookout with an extra 1,500 following to join in a couple of years after they’ll be properly trained to deal with the worst situations.
Seeing that many armed forces around the city might seem scary, but the troops have been instructed to be friendly, to approach the public and be approachable. So don’t be shy asking them a question or having a little chit chat about their new bikes.
Speaking of the bikes, the BMW F800GSs are powered by 798 cc 4-stroke inline-two cylinder engines developing 85 hp and 83 Nm of torque. Sprinting through traffic won’t be a problem even with a fully armed officer riding pillion, while the high ground clearance and long suspension travel makes it good at mounting curbs or going off-road.
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