Cops 'Had To Use Own Mobiles During Riots'

Police had to use their own mobile phones in the August riots after a multi-billion pound radio system collapsed, a leaked report has said.

The failings of the digital Airwave radio network used by the Metropolitan Police was apparently one of the reasons why London's officers were "always approximately half-an-hour behind the rioters".

And this was partly why officers kept arriving at areas where the disorder had moved on from, according to a review by the Police Federation.

It added: "Officers on the ground and in command resorted, in the majority, to the use of mobile phones to co-ordinate a response."

The internal report , leaked to the Observer newspaper, also revealed that after the trouble erupted, "forces often did not know how many officers they had on or off shift".

And senior officers took charge in some places "often without the local knowledge of the areas", making it easier to be outmanoeuvred by rioters, it was claimed.

The Airwave network was supposed to improve the way emergency services in London responded to a crisis after damning criticism for communication failures following the 7 July bombings in 2005.

The review also concluded that severe equipment shortages among officers meant they were unable to be mobilised in a public order capacity.

The investigation, compiled by the federation's operational policing sub-committee, found: "Mutual aid officers were often dispatched without enough equipment.

"They therefore could not be mobilised in a public order capacity as all the riot gear was in use."

Scotland Yard last week released the Operation Kirkin Strategic Review Interim Report into the riots which claimed there were not enough officers to deal with the unprecedented scale and spread of the disorder.

Police chiefs also said intelligence gathering "could not cope with the scale and speed of the spread of disorder".

Responding to the leaking of the Police Federation report, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens said: "The disorder in August was unprecedented and something none of us had experienced before.

"The report by the Federation makes some valid and helpful observations which have been fed into each work stream of the Kirkin Review. These work streams have been asked to specifically consider the recommendations made by the Federation alongside all the other feedback that is being received.

"Whilst the review is on going we are unable to respond to the report's individual points and recommendations however the Federation and other staff associations are engaged as an integral part of the review work, so will be continually updated about how the work is developing."

There have been more than 3,000 arrests in connection with the rioting and looting in London three months ago and over 2,000 people have been charged.

Many others were arrested and charged over similar unrest in other English cities.