Police patrols of Jewish communities in the UK are to be stepped up amid “heightened concern” about the risk of an attack following the Paris atrocity, Britain’s top counter-terror officer has said.

Mark Rowley, the national police lead for counter-terrorism, said officials had reviewed the terror threat to the UK following the attacks in Paris last week and decided that protection of Jewish schools should be increased.

He added: “The global picture of terrorist activity does give us heightened concern about the risk to the Jewish community in the UK. We are seeing continuing antisemitic rhetoric from extremists and attacks on this community in France and elsewhere. In addition to our existing security measures, we are in dialogue with Jewish community leaders about further actions that we will be taking, including more patrols in key areas.”

Rowley added that the UK’s defences had been reviewed as a response to the Paris attacks in which 17 people – including journalists and police officers – were murdered by Islamist gunmen following a three-day rampage that started at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

As well as increased patrols in Jewish communities, Rowley said steps would be taken to protect police officers.

David Cameron said these measures had been discussed in a meeting with police and intelligence forces earlier this week. He told Channel 4 news: “It’s very important to learn the lessons from anything happening elsewhere in Europe. Could that happen here? What steps should be taken? So the police have announced today that they’ll be stepping up patrols, particularly to protect the Jewish community.”

The prime minister did not reveal whether any specific threats had led to the decision to heighten security in Jewish communities. “We don’t give a running commentary on specific threats, but these steps were taken because of what happened in Paris and because of the situation that we face generally.

“The government has a very strong relationship with the Jewish community. It talks to them regularly about these issues. We have to be incredibly vigilant and look at all of these risks, particularly risks to police officers themselves, and take every action that we can.”

The move comes hours after counter-terrorism officers in Belgium thwarted what prosecutors described as a “second possible Paris” plot to kill police officers. The plan was disrupted at the eleventh hour when 15 suspected jihadists were arrested in a series of raids across Belgium and France, which resulted in the deaths of two Islamist gunmen in a shootout with police in eastern Belgium.

Rowley said: “We are also considering what further measures we might put in place to enhance the security of police officers, given some of the deliberate targeting of the police we have seen in a number of countries across Europe and the world.



“Chief constables across the country are reviewing how to strengthen the protection of their officers from such attacks. Our men and women on the frontline are used to confronting risk and danger and are well trained in how to protect the public and themselves. The fight against violent extremism relies upon the active support of all communities, to look out for one another in their neighbourhoods and to continue to demonstrate a show of resolve that will eventually help to defy the poisonous ideology of extremists and deny them opportunities to harm communities.



“We have been pleased and encouraged by the way that the public has responded to appeals to report concerns or suspicious activity. The number of calls to the anti-terrorist and other hotlines has increased significantly over the last few months. This has made an important contribution to keeping the public safe.”

The announcement by police came as a charity that advises Jewish institutions and communities in Britain on security said it had written to every parent and guardian with pupils in Jewish schools in the UK assuring them that security measures, including guards at school entrances, are already in place.

Dave Rich, deputy director of communications at the Community Security Trust, said: “We are not aware of any specific heightened threat or any specific extra measures being taken, but it is obviously a time of increased concern for parents, which is why we wrote to them.”

The CST, which has been advising and training on security since 1994 and collects information on antisemitic threats and incidents, has also organised staff briefings on security at several schools, including the JFS in Harrow, which, with more than 2,000 pupils, is the largest Jewish school in Europe.

Security measures have been in place in all Jewish schools for many years, he said, with the government contributing to the cost at state schools. The precautions were stepped up after the attack at Toulouse in France in 2012, when a lone gunman shot three young children and a rabbi outside a Jewish school.

The letter, calling on parents to be alert but not unduly concerned, was sent last Sunday after the killings in Paris, but before the latest terrorism-related events in Belgium and the precautionary closing of many Jewish schools there.

Signed by the chief executive, David Delew, the letter says: “CST has been in close touch with police and government, and wish to assure you that there is no suggestion of any information relating to an imminent attack upon British Jews.

“The problem with terrorism is well known to us all. It is why the government helps pay for security guards at Jewish state aided schools; and it is why CST has worked together with schools – and with many of you – to ensure that security infrastructure, guarding, procedures and rotas are in place in these efforts.



“Millions of pounds and many thousands of man-hours have been spent in these efforts. Nobody is complacent about this situation and we will continue to work with schools, police and government to keep improving security measures wherever possible.”

Parents have been contacting schools seeking reassurance about security.

One head, Patrick Moriarty, of JCoSS secondary school in Barnet, told the Jewish Chronicle: “The school site is very secure, with guards on active duty at all times at entry points and around the site, assisted by comprehensive CCTV coverage and high-quality infrastructure.”

Rich said the general CST security advice to all Jewish communal buildings also applied to schools: it includes preventing people from congregating outside the building, ensuring that security rotas and procedures are up to date, checking all post and deliveries before opening, and cancelling both deliveries and refuse collection over the sabbath and high holy days.