How ‘Fixated’ loners pose greatest royal threat.
As part of the security planning for such occasions a Counter Terrorist Security Coordinator (CT SecCo) will be appointed to coordinate the security plans for the senior police officer in overall command of the events, known as Gold.
With event’s the size of a State funeral and a Coronation, there will be a lead CT SecCo and they will appoint a number of other CT SecCos that will have key responsibilities, a role that I held on a number of occasions during my time in the Metropolitan Police.
Other than the perhaps obvious threats, such as terrorism, public disorder and crime, there will be specific threats from fixated people.
Any police officer who has had any involvement with the UK Royal family will know all about a group of fixated people who have delusional beliefs that they are in fact the rightful heir to the throne. However ridiculous that may sound, to these people their beliefs are real.
Like many fixated people, they crave proximity so will undoubtedly turn up at both the Queen’s state funeral and the King’s Coronation. Some will be upset they haven’t been invited to attend, others will believe that they are in fact the rightful heir and it should be their Coronation, not King Charles’.
Others will have a fixation on individual members of the Royal family, and they will view these events as an opportunity to express such views. Shortly after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral a woman calling herself Irene Windsor flew in from Spain and got a taxi to Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park. In her possession were maps of the site and other royal residences, including Buckingham Palace. The private security company, presumably untrained or aware of the threat from fixated people not only allow her access to the property but paid for her taxi too. She was detained by police 20 minutes later.
These individuals are managed by a joint Police and NHS unit called the Fixated Threat Assessment Team (FTAC). Whilst they do not investigate offences, they do provide specialist support and offer interventions to prevent those with delusions of being Royalty.
What we do know about those individuals that are fixated is that the often perceive the security and protective services to be an obstacle between them and their objective and can and often do pose a threat to them.
The security plan will include details, or those individuals known, the threat they pose and will seek to prevent them getting the proximity they desire.
Identifying and dealing with such fixated threats requires specialist expertise because when it fails, it can present a physical threat as well as posing huge embarrassment whilst demonstrating poor security.
For further information on our CPD accredited ‘Behavioural Threat Management Programme – Countering Fixated and Lone Actor Threats’
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