Last week was unquestionably one of the most challenging weeks I have seen in my police career, and ultimately one of the most rewarding.

The force faced the combined threat of a person allegedly engaged in serial terror attacks on the Muslim community and a major EDL demonstration. The force needed to catch the offender, prevent further attacks, work with communities and manage their concerns and police a major public order threat.

With the appearance in court of Pavlo Lapshyn, charged with murder and other terrorism matters, and the great skill in which the EDL event was managed the results so far have been outstanding. It happened because of great action at so many different levels. A fantastic investigation by the CTU; the rapid mobilisation of community and protective security operations by local teams; great work from all the support departments. There has been fantastic leadership by Golds, Silvers, SIOs…