Hundreds of elite cops who usually work protecting the royals and senior politicians are set to be deployed at Notting Hill Carnival this year.
The personal protection officers are being brought in over fears of violence or crowd-crushing at the three-day street party.
They will work alongside approximately 7,000 Met Police officers at the carnival, which is expected to attract crowds of upwards of two million people, The Telegraph reported.
Since many of the officers in the Royal and Specialist Protection (RaSP) command are plain clothes officers, they have had to squeeze into old ill-fitting uniforms or be issued new ones specially for the event.
A number have also required training on how to use bodycams, since body-worn video (BWV) is not mandatory in some RaSP roles.
The decision to employ the vast majority of the elite officers as ‘glorified stewards’ has not been received well by those working within these units.
One source said: ‘They will essentially be working as glorified stewards but they don’t have any choice in the matter. It’s an order from the top but it could hardly be less welcome.’
‘Notting Hill is the least popular job of the year. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of officers hate working at Notting Hill, even those who do regular public order work.
‘The shifts are very long, the conditions are really stressful and it is a pretty thankless role. The crowds seem to get bigger every year and it is extremely difficult to move around.’
Nearly 90 per cent of Metropolitan Police officers who responded to a survey last year said they had felt unsafe while working at the annual festival, while 28.78 per cent had been assaulted.
Descriptions of working at the event ranged from ‘Hell. It’s a war zone we are sent into year after year’ to ‘Dangerous. Officers are treated as lambs to slaughter’.
One officer said the police operation was ‘overstretched, ineffective and an exercise in self-torture’, while another claimed they ‘would rather crawl naked through broken glass’.
Two million revellers flock to the streets of west London over the August bank holiday weekend every year to enjoy the festival, which is rooted in Caribbean culture.
However, the celebration has been marred by serious violence, excessive drinking, drug use and destruction of property.
There were two murders, eight stabbings and 349 arrests this year and 61 officers were assaulted, the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers and carried out the survey, said.
However, while much of the focus has been on crime and violence, many top ranking officers also fear a crush scenario given the number of attendees squeezed into a relatively small area.
In a report from April 2025, the Met Police’s Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said his biggest fear was ‘crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event.’
Susan Hall, the vice chairman of the London Assembly police and crime committee, also claimed that policing the array of pro-Palestine protests had placed an additional burdern on the force.
Yesterday Pro-Palestine activists disrupted the London Pride parade, covering a float with red paint – as almost 30 people were arrested for expressing support for the banned Palestine Action group a day after it was banned.
Four Youth Demand protesters targeted CISCO’s truck as they charged the US-based company with ‘genocide’ and said they have ‘no place’ at the event.
It comes less than 24 hours after Palestine Action was banned and designated as a terrorist organisation.