Ministers will take a “nick them quick” approach to rioters, with plans for courts to sit for 24 hours to deal with suspects, but said there was no need to bring in the army.
After violent disorder in a number of UK towns and cities, Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said it was “absolutely” the plan to carry out swift arrests, charging and sentencing.
The approach is aimed at taking rioters off the streets as quickly as possible and to act as a deterrent.
The Police Federation warned this weekend that officers might not be able to attend other incidents as they scramble to respond to the widespread disorder, with outbreaks of violence in places including Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Stoke and Belfast.
Tiffany Lynch, the acting national chair of the Police Federation of England Wales, said the clashes were “flooding across major cities and towns”.
“We’re seeing officers that are being pulled from day-to-day policing to … go out there and essentially protect our communities,” she told BBC News.
“But while that’s happening, the communities that are out there that are having incidents against them – victims of crime – unfortunately, their crimes are not being investigated … We’re not going to be able to attend all of the incidents that are coming in on the 999s because we’re having to direct the priorities of what’s happening on the streets.”
Despite reports that the military could be brought in, Johnson said the police did not require extra resources. “There is no need to bring in the army and there has been no discussion about that,” she told BBC News.
“The police have made it very clear that they have all the resources they need at the moment … they have the powers that they need.”
Asked whether enough was being done to tackle the unrest, Johnson told BBC News she wanted to send “a very clear message” that those involved would be brought to justice.
“We have been reassured that the police have the resources that they need to be able to deal with what’s happening at the moment,” Johnson said. “They have longstanding plans in place for mutual aid if they need to put extra police officers into certain parts of the country. We are certainly not hearing that things like 999 calls are not being answered.”
She said there would be penalties and consequences for criminal disorder and it would “not be tolerated”.
Asked whether it amounted to a “nick them quick” approach, she said “absolutely”.
She said discussions with social media companies about how to curb the spread of online misinformation had been led by Peter Kyle, the technology secretary.
“Obviously we need to do more because, you’re absolutely right, there has been that spread of misinformation which has caused problems this week,” she added.
The latest rioting started after the murder of three children in Southport, where a further eight children and two adults were injured. A 17-year-old born in Cardiff has been arrested and charged. However, false information spread on social media that a Muslim seeking asylum who arrived on a small boat was responsible, triggering far-right anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim extremists to gather and cause disorder.
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