Police RIBs on the Thames

[rpguk]

Just sat having a drink on the river and thee were two police boats. Not the white ones that usually Bob about but pretty meaty looking RIBs. They met by the Milleniun bridge for a few mins and went their separate ways. A couple of cops watching from the river bank. Within 10 mins also had the police helicopter and an air ambulance over as well as I guess the fire boat bombing it down with lights on.

Any idea what's going on?

[bigandclever]

This, probably ... Police in anti-terrorism awareness operation on River Thames

[Puggit]

bigandclever said:

This, probably ... Police in anti-terrorism awareness operation on River Thames

A journalist dropped his hard drive in the Thames?

[Chunkymonkey71]

Wonder if they have any spare ones...?

(Boom boom!)

[rpguk]

bigandclever said:

This, probably ... Police in anti-terrorism awareness operation on River Thames

Good work! It seems your username is accurate.

Interesting to see the guys at work. The RIBs looked like they could hold quite a few officers each and the fireboat was bouncing down the Thames with splashing like a fat kid in the swimming pool.

[Impasse]

Small nugget of trivia ahoy: Ring Powercraft supply the police and the military with a lot of their RIBs, so there's a real possibility you spotted one of theirs.
Mike Ring (owner and all round Top Bloke) is a bit of a petrolhead and used to own a Lotus Esprit Sport 350 a few years ago.

That's all.

[rpguk]

http://www.ullmandynamics.com/wp-content/gallery/r...

Just found that pic by googling that name and that's certainly the two RIBs I saw. Pretty impressive machines and looks like they can take a fair few cops along.

The same bit of googling also came across this titbit of information which is certainly an odd fact.

Marine Policing Unit said:

Marine Policing Unit - Line Access

Uniquely the MPU provides the only searching at height capability across the MPS.

As another aside, having got on the wrong side of the MPU a month or two back I can say the two WPC's were very fair and decent and a credit to their team.

Edited by rpguk on Friday 23 August 01:48

[ilikestellaartoi]

Look like Atlantic to me but I could be wrong. I've been at the helm of lots of RIB's including this style with a couple of 250's on the back. Problem is they use so much fuel you end up having to leave the jetty with a ton of fuel in the hull and as such very slow to pick up and get on the plane and generally the top end will be about 45 knots.
Much more fun in a small Avon Searider with a 75 or 90 on the back (and only 50 litres of fuel for a few hours), very agile, quick to turn and quick to get onto the plane. Top end around 45 knots too.
When you're in big seas (not on the Thames) of about Sea State 5-7 it's much nicer to be in a heavier rib such as these Atlantic but for general hoonery the smaller lighter boats are much more fun.

[s p a c e m a n]

Won't their hats blow off?

[anonymous-user]

Curious how the boats are low-visibility matt black, with no lights and what looks like Velcro around the "Police" wording so it can be concealed with a simple cover.
I guess chasing speeding narrow boats and rescuing swans isn't what these chaps are about.

[jackh707]

ilikestellaartoi said:

Look like Atlantic to me but I could be wrong. I've been at the helm of lots of RIB's including this style with a couple of 250's on the back. Problem is they use so much fuel you end up having to leave the jetty with a ton of fuel in the hull and as such very slow to pick up and get on the plane and generally the top end will be about 45 knots.
Much more fun in a small Avon Searider with a 75 or 90 on the back (and only 50 litres of fuel for a few hours), very agile, quick to turn and quick to get onto the plane. Top end around 45 knots too.
When you're in big seas (not on the Thames) of about Sea State 5-7 it's much nicer to be in a heavier rib such as these Atlantic but for general hoonery the smaller lighter boats are much more fun.

I always thought a 5.5-6m rib was the sweetspot for a RIB, big enough for a good console, alright in the rough stuff but as you said keep costs down, smaller engines, less fuel.
I had a 5m for a while and it was fine for inshore stuff but offshore in anything more than a strong 5 was a bit much.

[AlexiusG55]

Crossflow Kid said:

Curious how the boats are low-visibility matt black, with no lights and what looks like Velcro around the "Police" wording so it can be concealed with a simple cover.
I guess chasing speeding narrow boats and rescuing swans isn't what these chaps are about.

Well, they certainly do have lights- there are blues on either side of the radar for one thing.

I think there's also a masthead light sticking up behind the radar and sidelights on either side of that arch at the stern.

Edited by AlexiusG55 on Saturday 24th August 19:28

[PV7998]

I expect they are Deltas........inboard diesel engine driving a prop.....about 40+ knots on a good day and great fun to drive. AFAIK the Met have 2 of them.....or at least that's what they had a few years ago.

[rpguk]

Just thought I'd resurrect this topic as I've seen them twice again recently - the other week one with just a few police on board going pretty bloody fast very very close to the wall near Greenwich. I'm sure they know what they're doing but it really did look like the slightest wave would knock them flying.

And then today both fully loaded with guys in black near the o2 - again at a good speed and it looked like they were practicing catching the regular little police boat.

Again very impressive stuff. A response to the Mumbai attacks I wonder?

[keslake]

Quite often have the Police RIB call into Tollesbury Marina on the east coast for a lunch break, twin 300's on the back and according to the guys it is good for 65-70 knots.