By Vivienne Russell | 10 August 2011
Police authorities have renewed calls for the repeal of the 1886 Riot Damages Act following a fourth night of disorder and mass theft across England.
The Victorian law requires police authorities to pay for damage incurred by rioting regardless of whether there has been any negligence on the part of the police. As a consequence, many commercial and domestic insurance policies do not cover loss or damage caused by rioting because of the expectation that the police fund will pay out.
But the Association of Police Authorities claims that police authorities’ own insurers no longer provide adequate cover and the police must meet riot damage claims from reserves or a special Home Office grant.
An APA spokesman told Public Finance that authorities could be liable for £200m in damage claims.
Ann Barnes, deputy chair of the APA said: ‘It seems to me a nonsense that when policing is facing unprecedented cuts and meeting the costs of present disorder, it must also bear the brunt of paying for criminal damage because of an out-of-date law. We therefore urge the government to consider emergency help for the police in the light of these liabilities and the inevitably significant costs of responding to such extraordinarily widespread criminality, not least in terms of overtime and mutual aid between forces.’
London Mayor Boris Johnson this morning called on ministers to reconsider plans to slash police budgets and officer numbers.
‘If you ask me whether I think there is a case for cutting police budgets in the light of these events, then my answer would be no,’ he told the BBC.
‘I think that case has always been pretty frail and it's been substantially weakened.’
Disorder in the capital was largely contained last night following the deployment of 16,000 police officers. But there were outbreaks of violence, looting and arson in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham.
Greater Manchester Police made a total of 113 arrests, most
on suspicion of criminal damage. Assistant chief constable Garry Shewan said:
‘Last night's shameful destruction saw some of the worst scenes I have ever
witnessed as a police officer.
‘What we have seen are serious and unprecedented levels of violence and
criminality on Greater Manchester's streets. These are shameful actions from
criminals who have attacked our cities.’
Manchester councillor and city centre spokesman Pat Karney said street-cleaning crews had been out all night clearing up the damage.
‘People in Manchester are very angry about what has happened in our city centre and it is time for us to stand together and say we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour,’ he said.
In Nottingham, Jon Collins, council leader and chair of the police authority, thanked Nottinghamshire police for the way they handled the disturbance.
‘The support that Nottingham residents have shown overnight shows that local people will not tolerate this behaviour and we will work together, with the police, to bring these criminals to justice,’ Collins said.
‘We are committed to keeping Nottingham a safe place and we will not allow anybody who deliberately flouts the law in this way to threaten the safety of local people, families and hard-working businesses.’
