Policing operation underway as British GP starts
About 480,000 people were expected to attend the 2025 Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Northamptonshire Police said it would deliver a robust policing operation from Thursday until Sunday.
Supt Pete Basham, event commander for the force, said: "This is a major operation involving a wide range of policing resources, as well as support from other emergency services and partner agencies."
Supt Basham said: "It is a great opportunity to engage with the public, but give that wider reassurance that we are here to promote public safety."
He said they will have officers "inside the circuit on patrol" for music events and "specialist community operations" outside of the perimeter.
Officers are also on standby with a traffic operation in place "to ensure smooth" access and exit from the site.
"It is a huge event for the county, and so our approach will be reflective of that."
"We are here if people need us," he added.
Live Facial Recognition was introduced to the event in 2023 and will be in operation again, police said.
The technology works by using a camera to scan faces to match biometrics against those held on a watch list.
In addition to uniformed and plainclothed officers, specialist resources, including armed officers, search teams, disruption officers, and Automatic Number Plate Recognition units, were set to patrol the circuit.
Supt Basham added: "We start planning for this event when last year's event ends. We do a structured debrief and look at what has gone wrong. We look at crime data that comes in and use all of that information to plan our response for next year."
People started to arrive for the UK's biggest sporting event on Thursday.
On Sunday, about 160,000 are expected to be in attendance to watch the main race.
Police encouraged visitors to the event to look at the crime prevention and safety advice on their website to prepare them for their visit.
There will also be concerts with performers including Sam Fender, RAYE, Fat Boy Slim and Becky Hill.
Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
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