Police officers’ tireless work at state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was 'testament to British policing'

Over 200 Hampshire officers policed the funeral on Monday 19 September, in what Hampshire Police Federation chair Zoë Wakefield called a ‘seamless’ policing operation.

READ MORE:

Zoë said: ‘As a policing operation it seemed to go seamlessly. We had a lot of officers that had to change their duties and their plans at the last minute, but everyone said: “Yes, this is so important, I will change my life around in order to help the force with their part in it”.

‘We had some search officers that went away for a week and I think it’s a testament to British policing that, when required, officers will bend over backwards to make sure that this went as smoothly as possible for the Queen.’

Police officers were mobilised from armed response, mounted units, drone and local neighbourhood teams to protect the procession of the Queen’s coffin.

In total, 24,000 barriers covering 36km of the capital were set up. More than 480 coachloads of officers were deployed around London and six feeding centres were set up to sustain the officers, who were provided with 25,000 snack bags, 50,000 bottles of water and 28,000 hot drinks. Welfare vans were also deployed.

Two days before the funeral, His Majesty The King paid a visit to the Met’s Command and Control Centre in Lambeth to thank colleagues for their efforts and support.

Tiff Lynch, deputy national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) said it was an ‘absolute honour’ for officers.