Seeking ‘change’ and ‘connection’ for Jewish New Year

Jukes says the threat to the Jewish community was “threefold”, from extreme right‑wing groups, Islamist terrorists and hostile states.

He said counter-terrorism police had made 35 arrests as part of 11 investigations.

“But we shouldn’t forget, just because those most serious incidents have dropped out the headlines, that there is a daily reality for a community here that deserve protection and should be living their life freely and without those fears.”

In July, the government announced the Met would receive £86m to recruit extra officers to increase the police presence in Jewish neighbourhoods, and around synagogues, schools and community centres.

It followed calls from the force’s Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley for an extra 300 dedicated officers.

Although the funding fell short of allowing this, Jukes previously told BBC London it would enable the force to build up three teams across the capital, with a total of more than 250 officers.

The Met says it currently has 36 dedicated officers based in north-west London and Stamford Hill.

“I’m hugely grateful that the Met are stepping up their game because it’s absolutely necessary,” Isaacs Pearce says. “As a community we need to feel free, and we need to feel safe just to be ourselves.”

Joining a community patrol in Golders Green last Friday, Jukes said the extra government support had allowed the force to focus resources, at a time when the Met is “shrinking”.

“It’s important to set this team up in a way which means we’re not bringing in officers from all over London, without knowledge of the community, but also [taking them] away from other communities. We’re able to actually build a team here for the long term.”

The Met has faced criticism over cuts to some front-line services, including the removal of dedicated faith officers, which the force says have been drawn into neighbourhood policing roles.

Jukes insists that “absolutely central” to the work of the new community protection teams is their partnership with the Community Security Trust and the volunteer Jewish civilian patrol group Shomrim who he says have “the confidence and trust” of the community.

The Met has said it wants the new team to be “a blueprint for how policing responds when tensions rise” when other communities face spikes in hate crime.

In July, Sir Mark said the Met had increased the police presence around mosques in London, after two mosques in Sutton were the focus of an alleged terror plot.