Most of my police career was spent in Special Branch.\u00a0 The first Special Branch, or\u00a0Special Irish Branch, as it was then known, was a unit of London’s\u00a0Metropolitan Police\u00a0formed in March 1883 to combat the\u00a0Irish Republican Brotherhood. The name became Special Branch as the unit’s remit widened to include more than just Irish Republican-related counterespionage.<\/p>\n
SB\u2019s remit grew somewhat over the decades.\u00a0 The intelligence work of Special Branch sits somewhere between that of the\u00a0Security Service (MI5)\u00a0and that of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13). It was announced, in September 2005, that the\u00a0Metropolitan Police\u00a0Special Branch would be merging with the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Metropolitan Police to form a new department called Counter Terrorism Command. \u00a0The new department came into being on 2 October 2006. \u00a0The main function for all these branches was to collect evidence and arrest the enemies of the United Kingdom who lived on home territory. Historically, these have been Irish republicans and unionists, intelligence agents and\u00a0extremists and\u00a0terrorists.<\/p>\n
Under British law, MI5 officers are not permitted actually to lay hands on members of the public. Observations, surveillance, lawful interception, arrests, interviews and preparing cases for prosecution are usually done by the Special Branch.<\/p>\n
Special Branch have responsibility for the personal protection of (non-royal) VIPs, and are examining officers at designated\u00a0ports\u00a0and\u00a0airports, as prescribed by the\u00a0Terrorism Act 2000.<\/p>\n
Personally, I was a surveillance operative, close protection officer and agent handler within Special Branch.\u00a0 The training and experience I have gives our clients here at Valkyrie the confidence and knowledge that they will always receive an excellent and thorough service, bespoke to their needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most of my police career was spent in Special Branch.\u00a0 The first Special Branch, or\u00a0Special Irish Branch, as it was then known, was a unit of London’s\u00a0Metropolitan Police\u00a0formed in March 1883 to combat the\u00a0Irish Republican Brotherhood. The name became Special Branch as the unit’s remit widened to include more than just Irish Republican-related counterespionage. SB\u2019s …<\/p>\n