Border Force joins project to protect Gatwick Airport.

Border Force has joined an initiative to combat illicit behaviour, including terrorism, at Gatwick Airport.

Border Force announced its first official non-policing partnership on Thursday, joining Project Servator, which has been in operation since 2014.

Project Servator is a police tactic designed to disrupt a variety of criminal activity while offering a reassuring presence for the public. Danny Hewitt, Border Force’s director for UK command operations, stated, “There’s no reason to be concerned.

These deployments are done at random; there is no specific threat that we are searching for, but it is all about improving and expanding airport security.”

According to the Home Office, Project Servator police are carefully trained to recognise warning signals that someone is gathering information to help them plan or prepare a crime.

Dover MP Mike Tapp, the government’s Home Office minister, stated, “This visibility is there for the public; it makes you feel safe, but it’s also very effective in recognising [and] identifying hostile recognition, as well as discouraging people from committing crimes.”

Ch Supt Justin Burtenshaw, head of protected security for Surrey and Sussex Police, stated that the public had a “vital role to play” in reporting concerns to officers.

“It’s about engagement and intelligence gathering primarily around counter-terrorism, but also criminality at the airport,” he told me.

Border Force will assist throughout Gatwick Airport as part of the pilot, with plans to expand to additional airports in the future.

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