Met Police chief ‘very confident’ locals support undercover officers outside bars as trial kicks off in London

‘People on the street - but also women’s organisations - have all responded positvely to this,’ Dame Cressida Dick says

The Metropolitan Police chief has said she is “very confident” locals support plain clothes officers outside bars, as the trial - aimed at preventing violence against women - got underway in London.

While undercover officers have already been patrolling night-time venues elsewhere in the country, this operation - called Project Vigilant - only recently kicked off in London in two boroughs.

The government said it would be extending the pilot scheme across the country following the death of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a then-serving police officer after being kidnapped on her walk home in the capital.

On Tuesday, Dame Cressida Dick, the Met’s commissioner: “I am very confident that the Vigilant, which we launched a couple of days ago, has been very well-received locally.”

“People on the street - but also women’s organisations - have all responded positvely to this.”

The Met said Project Vigilant is being piloted in London in Lambeth and Southwark. Teams of officers in plain clothes and uniforms are being deployed together in these south London boroughts to “identify and prevent predatory offending around busy night-time spots”, the force said.

Speaking outside Brixton Police station in Lambeth on Tuesday, the Met’s chief said: “The idea is this: that we know that people who are predatory, people who think that they might be able to seek out a vulnerable person, will go to particular areas. We are thinking here particularly around the late-night economy.

“And so what we’ve got is a system, working with licences, working with CCTV - yes, working with some plain-clothes officers - to spot those predatory men who might be out to target women.”

She added: “It’s not completely new, it’s been trialled in Thames Valley, it’s being used in a number of other police services and it has dramatically reduced offences of sexual assault and sexual harassment in, for example, Oxford city centre, so if it works there, why wouldn’t we try it here.”

The scheme has been strongly criticised by campaign group Reclaim These Streets.

“How can we trust Met police officers to spot predators in bars and clubs if they can’t seem to spot and root out predators in their own ranks?” a spokesperson said.

“The Met have lost the trust of women, and plainclothes officers will not win it back - instead for many women plainclothes officers outside bars is a sinister prospect.”

On Tuesday, the Met said in a statement it was “stepping up police activity to prevent night-time violence”, which included the launch of Project Vigilant.

The force has stressed officers will not be deployed inside night-time venues and will work in pairs.

Additional reporting by Press Association