The Metropolitan Police will deploy drones as well as hundreds of extra officers ahead of and during Pesach to help protect the Jewish community over the holiday.
The devices are part of a host of security measures the force is implementing this week ahead of Pesach, which comes in on Wednesday.
Heightened fears and an uptick in reports of antisemitic hate crimes in the wake of the arson attack in Golders Green last Monday, when four Hatzola ambulances were destroyed, prompted the force to ramp up its security plans.
The measures are being introduced “not just to build reassurance, but to act as a deterrent to prevent further attacks”, said James Conway, a commander for frontline policing at the Met who is overseeing the operation.
Drones, which have been placed on standby, will act as the "first responders" on a scene if another serious incident arises, arriving before officers, according to The Sunday Times, which first reported on the operation. They are likely to be sent from Islington police station in north London and could help to track the movements of suspects fleeing a crime scene.
Conway said the Met's use drones would be monitored closely to ensure that it "doesn't cause any undue anxiety" to the public.
While the Met had already drawn up plans to safeguard synagogues, schools and community centres over Pesach, following the Hatzola attack the force significantly stepped up the security measures in place, with resources nearly trebling in areas deemed high-risk such as Barnet.
There is no intelligence to indicate an attack is imminent, but Conway said: "We are seeing a confluence of state-backed threats, terrorism and the destabilising impact on community cohesion of a prolonged period of conflict in the Middle East.”
In addition to the drones, the Met will utilise armed response units and plainclothes operatives trained to spot patterns of suspicious behaviour, with more than 260 additional officers, many carrying Tasers, on the streets. All police leave has been cancelled for the next fortnight, with some officers in non-public facing roles being brought onto the beat to boost numbers.
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