ANTI-TERROR TEAMS GOING TO LONDON.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writers

The LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are sending terrorism experts and investigators to London to get briefed on anti-terrorism efforts and offer any help they can, officials said Wednesday.

Sheriff Lee Baca is sending a team of seven emergency management, transit police and arson-explosive detectives, as well as personnel from the county's Terrorism Early Warning Group, officials said.

London Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Ian Blair invited the team to review and evaluate the circumstances of last week's bombings, London's response operations and the post-event investigation, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

``The nature of these attacks will provide the Sheriff's Department a valuable opportunity to learn more about what happened, the effects of terrorism and then to assess the potential for similar attacks here at home,'' Whitmore said.

In the past, the department has sent teams to the site of the Oklahoma City bombing, New York City terrorist attacks and last year's train bombing in Spain, Hutchins said.

The Los Angeles Police Department also will send a small team of officers to London, including intelligence analysts, bomb squad officers and detectives, Sgt. Catherine Plows said. The department has not decided exactly who or how many officers will make the trip.

``We hope to learn from their experience, look at how they handle situations, perhaps look for key signs in preventing anything like that from happening here,'' Plows said.

``Especially since it happened in their underground rail system, we'll be looking at ways to protect our own rail systems.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com