Forest Gate operation cost police 2 million pounds Tue Oct 3, 2006 1:13 PM BST164LONDON (Reuters) - An anti-terrorism raid in east London sparked by flawed reports of a chemical bomb plot cost London's police force more than 2 million pounds, Scotland Yard said on Tuesday.
More than 250 officers were involved in the operation at two houses in Forest Gate in June, including 15 wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits who stormed the house.
One of the occupants, Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, was shot and arrested with his brother by police acting on faulty intelligence that there was a chemical bomb in their home.
They were released without charge, and police said they had been wrong although the information about the suspected bomb had come from a credible source.
The bulk of the 2,211,600 pound cost of the operation came from the salaries of the officers involved including 864,300 pounds in overtime pay, Scotland Yard said.
Other costs totalling 368,200 were incurred from repairs to the houses and hotel accommodation for the families.
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Technically, the normal cost of the Police salaries would have been incurred anyway, so the headline figure of £2.2 million should really "only" be 864,300 + 368,200 = £ 1,212,500
Even so, this seems to be a staggering waste of public money !
How much crime was not addressed properly, whilst all these policemen were wasting their time in Forest Gate ?
The cost to community relations and the the damage done to trust in the Police and Intelligence Agencies and the NuLabour government is also substantial.
