We'll carry on our pursuit of rioters, pledges police chief

Wednesday, 08 August 2012

Scene of devastation: Enfield Town on the morning after the riots last year

By Ruth McKee

IN the 12 months since police launched a massive crackdown on the looters who rampaged through London last August, nearly 2,000 people have been prosecuted for their part in the destruction.

After a police operation was launched in the immediate aftermath of the riots, officers trawled through hours of CCTV in a bid to bring looters and vandals to justice.

According to figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service, 1,900 people have been prosecuted for crimes related to the looting and destruction waged on the capital – and there are still 378 people charged with rioting offences yet to be brought to court.

But while the number of successful prosecutions has grown steadily in the past year, figures from the Metropolitan Police reveal that as of July 30 this year, there have been 4,521 arrests made in connection with the riots.

Although the Met was unable to provide a borough-by-borough breakdown of the figures, Superintendent Paul Healy, from Enfield Police, said: “The police service continues to investigate crimes committed during that time, and our relentless pursuit of individuals involved has seen more than 2,900 offenders brought to justice across London so far.

“We continue to feel proud of the overwhelming bravery of our officers who were policing the disorder in London last year.

"We will do everything we can to stop anything like those events from ever happening again and we have learnt from what happened and have strengthened our ability to prevent them in future by training an extra 1,750 public order trained officers and reviewed the tactics we employ in these instances.”

Copyright Tindle Newspapers Ltd Thursday, 23 May 2013