London's police chief says he'd 'absolutely' send officers to Dubai SWAT competition again

Police Chief Thai Truong said he "absolutely" would again send 11 officers to a SWAT team competition in Dubai, saying the cost to the department of $15,700 delivered essential training for police who respond to the highest risk situations. 

"When we deploy these officers, we're deploying them in critical instances," said Truong in an interview with London Morning host Andrew Brown. "One mistake can be fatal. We have to make sure these officers have the best training and they were learning from the best SWAT teams in the world," he said. 

Truong was responding to questions about the value of sending officers around the world to compete against SWAT teams from more than 70 other countries at a time when the police are making a big budget ask to council. 

Truong said the trip offered essential training at a reasonable cost. Originally the price was going to be $115,000. When London police said that wasn't doable, Dubai offered to cover the on-site costs.

"In the police realm, we can't find training that costs that amount," said Truong. "It's always in the thousands of dollars." 

Ali Chahbar, who chairs London's Police Services Board (PSB), joined the interview and said when CBC News first reported about the trip, he contacted Truong with some questions about it. 

Chahbar said he's asked the chief to bring a report about the trip to the PSB with information about its cost and benefits, which Truong has agreed to do. 

"I have some more questions, I know the other board members have some more questions," said Chahbar. "We want to ask questions about this specific training exercise but also all the other ones. We're going to ask the questions in public in front of the media and other members of the public." 

Truong said there was no attempt to keep from the public details about the trip.

"I wasn't hiding this, we certainly don't share to the public every officer that's on training," he said. "We send hundreds of officers every year on training."

Truong was also asked about the ethics of sending officers to United Arab Emirates, a country that has been criticized for its human rights record.

"I'm not an expert in human rights," said Truong. "I have a good, solid understanding but this is not a human rights decision, it's a law enforcement decision where the best all over the world are attending to train. This is what this was about."