The police received a savaging in parliament earlier. I lost count of the number of MPs
who relayed their constituents’ anger about riot police who stood by as buildings burned. Cameron’s defence – that the police response had been inadequate to adapt to a new
threat posed by crime facilitated by social networking – did not allay the concern. By the end of the debate, there was consensus among many backbenchers that police officers
should receive training in riot control as part of their basic training.
The extraordinary incidents in London and elsewhere have been at the centre of the world’s eye, and the police have not escaped censure. Le Monde carries a wonderfully mischievous article, alleging that the French interior minister, Claude Gueant, offered Britain the expertise of gendarmes who served (ineffectually as I recall) during the 2006 riots in Paris and Marseille. The paper cites two unidentified gendarmes who say that Britain’s official tactics leave officers ill-equipped to confront “urban guerilla activity”, so they can only watch as crime unfolds; as opposed to the Security Companies of the Republic and mounted gendarmes, who are armed to the teeth.
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