Specialist officers with knowledge of flags

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.033405

I note you seek access to the following information:

As per the following posts on Twitter/X, the Met currently employs “specialist officers with knowledge of flags”.

I would like to know the following:
1. Where are these officers recruited from?
2. What qualifies them to be “specialist officers with knowledge of flags”? What’s the actual description of the role and what are the requirements for hiring?
3. How many are currently employed?
4. Is the ethnic or religious background of these officers a factor in their hiring?

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

The MPS deploys uniformed officers to protests to look for people displaying symbols that may contravene section 13 Terrorism Act 2000. The specialist officers with knowledge of flags come from the Public Order Command Crime Team and have experience of the investigation and prosecution of this offence. These officers are not selected on the basis of race or ethnicity. This is not a full time role which is solely focussed on this aspect but forms part of wider investigation skillset capability. As such there is no specific job description, recruitment process or fixed number of posts given the range of knowledge and expertise required in investigation roles.