Top of the Month: Met Police comms operation during Westminster terrorist attack praised

The force’s comms operation moved into high alert mode last Wednesday afternoon after a man, later identified as Khalid Masood, drove a car onto the pavement at high speed along Westminster Bridge before crashing into the gates of the Houses of Parliament and stabbing a police officer to death.

Five people, including Masood, were killed during the attack and at least 50 were injured, with 13 understood to still be in hospital.

Within twenty minutes of the attack starting, the Met had already issued its first tweet, alerting the public that there had been an incident.

We were called at approx 2:40pm to reports of an incident at #Westminster Bridge. Being treated as a firearms incident - police on scene

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017

An hour later, the Met tweeted again, appealing for the public to remain calm and vigilant, before confirming the attack was being treated as a terrorist incident.

Incident in #Westminster: We are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017

The Met’s twitter account then called on people to show restraint before posting pictures and videos of the attack.

Please use common sense and restraint in circulating pictures and videos of those that have been injured during the incident in #Westminster

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017

Later that day, in time for the BBC news at 6pm, acting deputy commissioner Mark Rowley gave a calm and assured performance in front of the cameras as he described the ensuing police operation to the assembled media.

Updates were also provided across the Met's other social media channels:

Earlier that week, the Met had carried out an anti-terror exercise on the Thames, in which they tested not only police readiness but also how its comms would respond in an attack.

The entire comms operation was highly praised by Guto Harri, former media strategist to Boris Johnson during his mayoralty.

He told PRWeek: "In a fluid, fast-moving, situation, the Met was very quick to project a sense of control, perspective and reassurance that was convincing and consistent. It’s a tribute to the professionalism of the team and the fierce intelligence of [Met Police director of comms] Martin Fewell."

Other public sector comms professionals added their praise to Harri’s over Twitter, including Chris Webb, former head of news for the Met.

My brilliant ex colleagues in the Met's dept of media & comms have done a fantastic job in handling today's terror incident. So proud of u.

— Chris Webb (@Chriswebb_exmet) March 22, 2017

Webb was joined by Scott Field, director of comms at TeamGB, who tweeted:

Met Police are doing an incredible job, officers and civilian staff alike. The comms has been reassuring, timely and thoughtful. Great work.

— Scott Field (@scottjfield) March 23, 2017