The review of UK prime minister David Cameron’s security arrangements after an incident with a jogger has been welcomed bytwo former senior island police officers.
Former Det Insp Robert Kinrade and Det Chief Inspector David Bell said they were concerned by the incident in Leeds on Monday when a runner appeared to barge directly into Mr Cameron.
Security staff bundled Dean Farley, 28, to the ground. He was later allowed to go free without charge.
Both Mr Kinrade and Mr Bell volunteered to join close protection teams while serving with the Manx force and this led to them looking after high profile figures such as the Queen, Prince Charles, high ranking UK political figures and Ireland’s then president Mary Robinson during visits to the island.
Mr Kinrade told the Manx Independent he fully supported the review: ‘Yes definitely.
‘You have to bear in mind that the UK terrorism threat level is now severe’. He said that it was vital the incident was looked at so any lessons could be learned for the future. He said other police forces including the Manx constabulary would take note of the review as a matter of course
Mr Kinrade said: ‘I was concerned with the way the jogger seemed to direct himself straight towards the Prime Minister.
‘By the time he had got that far everything seemed to have broken down.
‘You would expect on the outer wings what we call an outer cordon. Now once he has got through that outer cordon and then heading towards the prime minister you have got problems.
‘There has to be an outer cordon, you can’t just put a ring of steel around the principal (Mr Cameron).’
Mr Kinrade accepted there has to be a balance of providing protection as well as allowing the person being protected to be seen by the public.
Mr Kinrade and Mr Bell are directors of Expol, an island base d security company.
Mr Kinrade who helped protect former high profile UK politicians such as Douglas Hurd on visits tothe island, was approached for his views on London radio station LBC this week. He told Lisa Aziz: ‘There was a breach of security, you can’t get away from that. What we have to bear in mind is these guys are doing a very good job day in and day out, 365 days a year so we shouldn’t lose sight of that.
‘However there was a breach of security and they were put to the test.’