THE increased presence of armed police on York’s streets has met with a mixed response.

One reader of The Press said he was walking in Colliergate recently and was concerned to see “two policemen with hand guns casually walking about in the street”.

He said: “I asked them why we were seeing guns on the streets of York, they said it was meant to reassure the public over this festive season.

“From my point of view, it had the exact opposite effect and it is something I would not want to become commonplace.”

The reader felt armed police in the street seemed to be “a fundamental shift in police policy, and a really bad idea”.

While Project Servator - a scheme which sees armed officers, police horses, dogs and plain-clothed officers situated around the city in a method of “unpredictable policing” - has been in place for about 18 months, police said the recent increase in police firearms on the streets was a different matter - part of the measures put in place specifically for the Christmas market and festive season.

Chief Inspector Fiona Willey of North Yorkshire Police’s specialist operations unit, said the force “recognise that some members of the public feel uncomfortable with armed police deployed in public places”, but the action was a response to heightened terror levels around the UK.

She said: “The current terrorism threat remains ‘severe’, and this combined with an increase in visitors to York during the festive season has led to us taking appropriate precautions to help keep people safe. These decisions are carefully assessed and we take the most proportionate and necessary action.

“Our armed officers also patrol in vehicles, however, due to the nature of York’s narrow streets with pedestrianised areas and numerous entry and exit points, having armed officers on foot was deemed the most suitable measure during the festive season.”

Chief Insp Willey said the unpredictable deployment of armed officers was designed to provide “a deterrent to criminals and reassurance for members of the public”, and while not everyone was pleased about it, reaction had been largely positive. She said: “The majority of people engage positively with the officers - both children and adults alike - posing for photos and thanking them for their work, although we do appreciate that not everyone feels the same way. We hope that members of the public are reassured that we have everyone’s safety in mind and can understand the reasons why they might see armed officers at Christmas markets, both in York and in many other cities across the country.”

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