PSNI considers help for English police
British police officers arrest a man as rioters gathered in Croydon, south London, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. Violence and looting spread across some of London's most impoverished neighborhoods on Monday, with youths setting fire to shops and vehicles, during a third day of rioting in the city that will host next summer's Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
THE PSNI is considering what resources it can offer stretched police forces in England to deal with widespread rioting in the country.
The news comes after several former senior PSNI officers said the service’s world-renowned public order management expertise could be of significant help to other British forces.
A PSNI spokesman said last night that the Police National Information Co-ordination Centre (PNICC), which manages mutual aid arrangements across UK police forces, is co-ordinating the operation to deal with serious public disorder in England.
“PNICC have been in contact with all UK police services assessing what resources are available to deal with the current situation,” the PSNI spokesman said.
“We are currently reviewing how and where we may be able to provide support to our colleagues in line with their requests. At this stage, due to operational commitments, we are unable to provide any officers, however, we have offered a number of Land Rover vehicles for assistance.”
Former RUC and PSNI Det Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter, yesterday described as “primitive” the tactics used by police in London to deal with rioters.
“I have heard the Met talking about how effective it had been to drive armoured cars down streets where there was rioting,” he said.
“But those are tactics we were using in Northern Ireland in the 1980s if not the 1970s.
“They are very ill-equipped for this, with short circular shields being used by officers as opposed to the long shields used by the PSNI.”
His recommendation for dealing with the situation is to put in place partial curfews to keep all young people out of shopping areas after 8pm for seven to 10 days.
The generation of rioters involved, he said, were disconnected from normal social standards and living in an electronic world of twitter, Facebook and text messaging, which they use to organised looting raids.
“It is designer rioting – they are only targeting businesses that are high-value goods in the eyes of young people”.
Military police, fire and communications staff could be deployed in areas which have seconded regular police and fire officers to rioting, he says.
“There is such a social divide here with a lot of things feeding into this. We need to look at factors that undermine traditional family values and the breakdown of faith and religion in society,” he added.
Former PSNI assistant chief constable, Stephen White, said it was easy to be “an armchair critic”.
He was a former gold commander who oversaw policing of major public disorder situations in Ulster.
He said the Met needed to be more sensitive to community relations, adding: “An officer shot a man dead in recent days and his friends and family were kept waiting for four hours outside a police station while officers refused to talk to them.”
Mr White, who is now a renowned international security consultant, said that the PSNI could offer expertise.
“The PSNI has at least a dozen public order advisors who spend their time studying research on dealing with rioting.
“Without having any executive authority or command and control, you could have these advisors deployed in England. This is a critical area where the PSNI could help English forces. This is an option and should be considered seriously. Northern Ireland’s experience in this area is still sought across the world.”
He applauded the arrests of around 460 people across seven English cities in recent days, which he said would act as a deterrent.
But this cannot be compared to Northern Ireland, where arrests are more difficult during rioting because rioters use blast bombs, petrol bombs and even firearms against officers.
Using the army in England would be totally out of proportion, he said, but the military could be called in to give logistic support.
He suggested that English police use a strategy of holding their ground during rioting while making it clear they are gathering evidence from CCTV for prosecutions.
Former RUC assistant chief constable, Alan McQuillan, said the disorder in England was radically different to that in Northern Ireland, where there were normally big “set pieces” which were static and usually focused on attacking police.
“What we are seeing in England is gangs coming out of estates to pillage and then run back into their estates when the police arrive,” he said.
“There is also a core of quasi-anarchists involved who have been hijacking protests in London for some time. They are hidden among the general criminals and taking advantage of the situation.”
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
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