Golders Green arson attack: Police considering using drones, live facial recognition and behavioural analysis to protect Jewish community

Police are considering using drones, live facial recognition and behavioral analysis experts to increase protection for Jewish people following an anti-Semitic arson attack in London.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing, said teams working with Jewish communities in Britain were already maintaining a “high security posture”.

But he said authorities were exploring what else they could do, including using drones and deploying specially trained “Project Servant” officers to spot signs that someone is conducting hostile reconnaissance or planning a crime.

Speaking after four Jewish community ambulances were set on fire in an anti-Semitic attack in north-west London, ACC Taylor told Radio 4: Today: “We already have a very high security posture working with the Jewish community; we are very fortunate to have a great relationship with the Community Security Trust and other partners within that community.

“We’re giving advice. We’re using the skills and talents we have to go beyond traditional neighborhood policing, it’s clear we have an improved posture in terms of visibility in these places across the country.”

“But we’re also looking at what kind of expertise we can bring to our protective security posture, using everything from drones to live facial recognition to our Servator teams that do behavioral analysis, which can then look at people in the area, as well as providing advice and training on hostile reconnaissance and other things.”

He acknowledged it was “absolutely extraordinary” that Jewish communities in Britain were facing such threats, adding: “I think it’s very sad that we have to have this conversation.”

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether an Islamist group with possible links to the Iranian state was behind the fire.

Vehicles were set on fire in Golders Green, north-west London, in the early hours of Monday and CCTV showed three hooded suspects pouring gas over ambulances belonging to the Hatzola utility.

A manhunt is currently ongoing, with the Met stating the incident is not currently being treated as terrorism.

A Telegram channel seen by IndependentThe channel, which claimed to be the official channel of an Islamist group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video shared early Monday morning.

ACC Taylor confirmed it was a “one-line investigation”.

“We need to understand more about this group,” he added. “You know that they have undertaken numerous incidents across Europe. As I said before, this is one of the investigations we are carrying out.

“We are working incredibly closely with our security service partners and are collectively investigating who this group is, what their motivations are and the level of involvement they had in yesterday’s Golders Green incident.”

He noted that if the group is found to be behind the attack, it would not be the first Iranian-backed plot on British soil. Last year, MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum announced that they had detected more than 20 Iran-backed plots, including kidnapping and espionage, since October 2024.

Terrorism police have also seen a “very significant” increase in investigations into alleged activity by hostile states.

“We have seen a very significant increase in our work on foreign state activity, particularly around the top three countries of Iran, Russia and China,” ACC Taylor said.

“In the six months through December of last year, we had a 50 percent increase in National Security Act investigations, driven by a fivefold increase over the last four or five years. This is a significant portion of our caseload.”

Two worshipers were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October 2025, and in a separate investigation earlier this month two men were accused of spying on Jewish people and Iranian locations.

The Met said it would deploy an extra 264 police officers, as well as specialist teams including firearms, mounted and unmanned aerial vehicles, to boost the security of Jewish communities ahead of Passover in early April.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called on communities to “stand together” against the “appalling anti-Semitic attack”, while Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said it was “particularly sickening” that voluntary service was being targeted.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood said the incident was “more than an attack on an organization or community” and vowed that those behind the incident would be pursued and faced with the consequences of their “despicable actions”.

The government has also promised to fund the replacement of ambulances and emergency medical support.