A friend and ex colleague sent me this picture today after seeing it on display whilst on holiday. It shows BTP’s Specialist Response Unit (then part of the Counter Terrorism Support Unit - CTSU) during training, using advanced chemical detection equipment and wearing Gas Tight Suits (GTS). The picture was taken in 2006 in the yard at BTP FHQ at Tavistock Place (1). In the period following the 9/11 attacks in the US, BTP rapidly enhanced its Counter Terrorism capability. Work on confronting the Chemical, Biological and Nuclear (CBRN) threat had begun in earnest in 1995 in the aftermath of the nerve agent attack on the Tokyo Metro by the Aum Shinrikyo cult (2). The railways policed by BTP and its predecessors have been targeted since the 1880s by terrorists, so the development of officers trained to handle terrorist incident and threats is no surprise. Experience of wartime operations also featured in BTP’s corporate memory. ...