Secret Squirrel Comments On The London Riot.

Secret Squirrel has seen videos of the violence taking place in London, the London Riot of 2011,and sees that
London faces a big problem: police can’t figure out how to quell outbursts of violence and stop them from spreading,and there is a virtually total lack of proper riot control equipment. That doesn’t lend a lot of confidence to the city’s ability to ensure safety for the 2012 Olympics,in the very least.They were warned,there were earlier outbreaks of violence,mini riots,the so-called budget cuts violence,“The march was largely peaceful apart from isolated skirmishes between protesters and police, authorities said,” they falsely report. The “largely peaceful” march saw masked thugs going wild in Oxford Circus smashing shop windows and attacking the police. While it was dealt with there was no great rush to secure proper riot gear and formulate a proper riot plan, no indeed,none of any kind.There was time for police management and politicians of the city and the nation, to see rising violence and secure the proper equipment to deal with,prevent, and at least lessen such as what has and is still yet occurring in London,and spreading to yet other cities.

Some blame BlackBerry BBMs and Twitter for facilitating the organization of riots and looting,While Twitter was initially credited with helping to spread the unrest, newspapers and tech blogs are suggesting that the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service actually had more of a role, thanks to the privacy of messages exchanged on the network and its popularity with young people. {TechCrunch Europe}no steps were taken to shut down the Blackberry system, (that being in the hands of a foreign entity) but regardless of the communication tools used to communicate,much of the destruction has been caused by groups of a few hundred people or so.Will there be a plan in place to handle simultaneous civil protests, terrorist threats and general crowd related security at the same time? Part of the current problem lies with austerity budget cuts that haven’t seen police jobs spared. There are plans to cut 9,000 of 35,000 police jobs, and emergency responders like firefighters and paramedics face staff cuts as well. When the police are busy protecting firefighters trying to extinguish fires, riots spring up in other areas where there is no police presence.One sees a general lack of what could be called riot gear,one sees sparsley kitted out riot police, and few of them, spread widely apart due to a general lack of numbers. One doesn't see any general riot vehicles such as water cannon equipped trucks, no use of smoke nor tear gas,strangely enough. They've had years to plan,and secure the proper equipment, they could have learned much from the Americans and their riot equipment and planning.

As a matter of fact a curfew was not in fact imposed, no doubt due to a general inability to enforce it in either and every case.Since the 1980s, riot control officers have also used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets,batons and electric tasers. In some cases, riot squads may also use Long Range Acoustic Devices, water cannons, armoured fighting vehicles, police dogs or mounted police on horses.Netguns are non-lethal weapons designed to fire a net which entangles the target.Netguns have a long history of being used to capture wildlife, without injury, for research purposes. A netgun is currently in development for non-lethal riot control.Stink bombs are devices designed to create an extremely unpleasant smell for riot control and area denial purposes. Stink bombs are believed to be less dangerous than other riot control chemicals, since they are effective at low concentrations. Sticky foam weapons are being tested, which cover and immobilize rioters with a gooey foam.

Low frequency sound cannons are weapons of various types that use sound to injure or incapacitate subjects using a focused beam of sound or ultrasound. Active denial systems (ADS) are a non-lethal, directed-energy weapon developed by the U.S. military. The ADS directs electromagnetic radiation, specifically, high-frequency microwave radiation, at a frequency of 95 GHz, which causes the water in the upper epidermis to boil, stimulating a "burning" sensation in the nerve endings and generating intense pain. Dazzler lasers are directed-energy weapons that use intense light to cause temporary blindness or disorientation of rioters.Amazingly, none of this was seen in London.Officers performing riot control typically wear protective equipment such as riot helmets, face visors, body armor (vests, neck protectors, knee pads, etc.), gas masks and riot shields. At least some of this was seen in London.

The front-line officers in a riot control are often fully armored and carry weapons such as batons, designed to be in direct contact with the crowd. These officers subdue rioters and subsequently allow the less heavily armoured, more mobile officers to make arrests where it is deemed necessary. In face of a greater threat, the riot police will be backed up with other officers equipped with riot guns to fire tear gas, rubber bullets, plastic bullets or "beanbag" rounds.

As a less aggressive step, mounted police may first be sent into the crowd. The might and height offered by the horse are combined with its training, allowing an officer to more safely infiltrate a crowd. Usually, when front-facing a riot, officers slowly walk in a line parallel to the riot's front, extending to both its ends, as they noisily and simultaneously march and beat their shields with their batons, to cause fear and psychological effects on the crowd.
German police deploy an armoured riot control vehicle at a demonstration in Hamburg.

The French CRS's tactics against a long demonstration march is to attack it at several points and chop it into segments, rather than to merely try to block it at its front end.In the United Kingdom, usually when large demonstrations take place that are deemed unstable, the territorial police force responsible for the demonstration in that area will usually deploy Police Support Unit personnel who are trained in riot tactics, along with normal divisional officers. If the demonstration turns violent, police will seal roads and other exits to contain protesters in a single area (known as kettling) to prevent widespread damage and wait until the protesters tire. These tactics were seen during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests and the 2010 student protests in London. Tear gas and other more offensive tactics are used as a last resort. Throughout police will be videoing or photographing protesters for future arrests, "snatch squad" tactics might also be used.However, the efficiency displayed in those events has been completely and utterly lacking in this one.Strange,a sudden total collapse of the riot squad.
Quite obviously The London Police were not, and are not, prepared to handle riots.A very sad and costly situation all round and about, one that must be immediately addressed and rectified.London, and England, is in a sad and sorry state,brought about by lack of planning, and fore sight,failure to heed the warnings of a series of escallating riots.It is said in England that one learns from the mistakes, but here we see mistake after mistake after mistake, leading to this latest mistake, and ever onwards to yet another.If anything the London riots have revealed lack of planning,coordination,general incompetence, and lack of proper equipment to protect the public at large.This is not acceptable.