Yard to spend £22,000 on ID for public order officers

The embroidered epaulettes will be issued to more than 8,000 specially-trained officers across London.

Among them are members of the territorial support group, dog handlers and some borough officers.

The moves follows criticism in the wake of the G20 demonstrations last April of officers failing to wear identification markings.

It stopped short of upgrading identification badges for every officer, which would come with an estimated bill of up to 500,000 over four-years.

But one member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), the force's board of governors, said the move does not go far enough.

Liberal Democrat politician Dee Doocey said the "limited proposal" must be extended to every one of the force's 33,322 officers. She said: "It is inexcusable for any police officer to not be clearly identified while on duty."