Safety, security and the question of what it means for Jews to live freely in Britain are never far from our minds at Pesach. The Seder may be an ancient ritual, but for many families, it has long doubled as a barometer of the present, a moment to ask not just what happened to us in the past but how safe we feel today.
In my home, the retelling of the Exodus was never confined to biblical history. It sat alongside my grandparents’ escape from Nazi persecution, the latest news from the Middle East and the persistence of antisemitism here in Britain. The Seder table was where we quietly assessed the state of Jewish life in this country.
So, last Monday morning, standing at the scene of the appalling attack on Hatzola ambulances less than a mile from where my family gathers for our Seders, I found myself thinking once again of my grandfather. He was a refugee who rebuilt his life in Britain and was himself treated with compassion by Hatzola medics in his later years. He was proud to be British, but understood the fragility of Jewish life better than most.
That reality has felt especially stark this year. As the most senior Jewish police officer in the country, I have never known a period as challenging as the months since 7 October. The strain has been felt both within the Jewish community and in its relationship with the Police Service. We are operating in an online landscape where extremism spreads fear faster than facts, where Iranian-backed hostile activity targets Jews and where centuries old antisemitic tropes continue to circulate with ease. Against that backdrop, maintaining trust has become significantly more challenging.
At the Metropolitan Police our aim, though, has always been clear. We must keep Jewish Londoners safe from these complex and evolving threats and ensure they feel safe too. That cannot be achieved by reassurance alone. It requires visible and sustained action.
Since October 7, and especially after last year’s sickening terrorist attack in Manchester, we have increased patrols across Jewish neighbourhoods in London and around schools, synagogues and community centres. Since last Monday alone, the Met has deployed an additional 264 officers on the ground, working on 12‑hour rotations with the aim of protecting communities, disrupting offenders, and detecting crime. These patrols are not just a deterrent – officers are giving advice to community members and stepping in when they see concerning behaviour. They are also supported by specialist firearms officers who are patrolling targeted locations, although to stress these are precautionary measures and not in response to a specific threat.
But I also know that for some, this will not feel enough. I am frequently asked why the police cannot do more, particularly regarding protests. We do use our powers. We relocate demonstrations away from synagogues and Jewish sites, place limits on timings and intervene when chanting or signage breaks the law. Yet many still feel these measures fall short.
The answer lies in the law. The police do not decide the limits of protest. Parliament does. The legal threshold for banning a march is extremely high and whilst we believed it was met in relation to Al Quds events, this was very much the exception. Importantly, currently we have no power at all to ban a static assembly. The government is now consulting on changes to this framework.
The hardest part of our work comes when we are asked to police the space between communities, balancing the right to protest with the right and need to feel safe. That balancing act is central to the decisions made by our public order commanders, including me, and those decisions are scrutinised by the courts and by the communities we serve. None of them are taken lightly. I can assure you that, in making these decisions, my colleagues at Scotland Yard are informed by hearing directly from Jewish Londoners about the anxiety and fear they feel.
And yet there is another truth we must hold alongside this. Calls to restrict civil liberties must be considered with care. History reminds us that when freedoms narrow, it is all too often Jews who suffer first.
Britain’s policing model is built on consent, on working with communities rather than policing over them. That does not mean we can be everywhere or solve every problem instantly. In a Police Service that has had to reduce its numbers, our constraints are often resourcing, not willingness. But our commitment is firm. To be more visible, more present and more proactive in confronting hate crime, and to be transparent and accountable for our actions.
The Commissioner made this clear in the immediate aftermath of the ambulance attack in Golders Green and again that evening at the CST annual dinner. Through sustained action, sustained presence and sustained partnership, we can protect the safety of Britain’s Jews alongside all our communities and rebuild trust where it has been shaken.
As we look ahead, I hope, as you do, for a year of greater calm, greater confidence and greater security; and that by next Pesach, the conversations around our Seder tables will reflect that change.
Ben Russell is Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service
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