London Bridge incident: Statement from Deputy Chief Constable Nick Baker

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those caught up in the dreadful incident at London Bridge. It is an absolute tragedy for everyone affected and on behalf of Staffordshire Police I want to extend my deepest sympathies.

While our colleagues in Counter Terrorism Policing investigate the circumstances, this has been a reminder to us all that attacks can take place at any time and without warning. Therefore it is vitally important everyone remains alert but not alarmed.

We, along with our partners in the intelligence services, are doing everything we can right across the country to help prevent further attacks. But we need your help. Communities defeat terrorism, and we must maintain the strong relationship between the public and the police. We depend on you to be our extra eyes and ears to help keep all of our communities safe.

We advise everyone to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious behaviour or activity to police, in confidence online at gov.uk/ACT . In an emergency always call 999.

If you get caught up in the rare event of a weapons attack we urge you to follow the Run, Hide, Tell advice.

We would like to reassure communities across the County that our local officers will be carrying out high-visibility patrols and will be on hand for reassurance and to respond to any concerns people may have.