Policing large scale disorder

Download or read book Policing large scale disorder written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Home Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-12-22 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee focused on the police response, the costs of policing the disorder, and the role of social media, all of which were looked at in the context of wider public policy. The causes were only looked at in so far as they offered lessons to reduce the likelihood of similar disturbances occurring again. The Committee concluded that ultimately the disorder was quelled by increased numbers of police officers on duty and flooding the streets with police. In the initial stages this did not happen and the operation to police the disorder in many towns and cities, and particularly in London, is seen as flawed. The single most important reason why the disorder spread was the perception, relayed by television as well as social media, that in some areas the police had lost control of the streets. The death of Mark Duggan was a significant factor in the disorder that took place in Tottenham. A potentially tense situation was made worse by failures of communication on the part of the Metropolitan Police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Those who took part in the disorder did use social media to communicate with each other, but television also played a part in spreading the disorder. All police forces should have a communication strategy in place so in the event of a credible threat of severe public disorder all businesses in the affected area are given early and consistent advice about what action they should take