Met Police: We Will Stop Any Further Trouble

Metropolitan Police commanders have warned their officers will be out across London in even greater numbers in the coming days to deal robustly with any criminality.

The warning comes amid growing criticism about the speed of the police response to Saturday's serious rioting in Tottenham, north London.

The country's biggest police force is now braced for what could prove to be a very challenging week.

The Tottenham riot was a response to an event, which spiralled out of control, fuelled by anger and suspicion.

Sunday night's trouble was at a lower intensity, but it was widespread across numerous London boroughs, stretching police resources significantly.

And that is the worry - how will police cope if trouble continues to spread in the coming days?

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh told Sky News that Sunday night's pockets of trouble were down to "thuggish elements, indulging in wanton criminality".

He said the force had three-times as many officers on duty on Sunday night, than were deployed in Tottenham on Saturday.

In a blunt warning to anyone thinking of causing any more trouble, DAC Kavanagh said: "We'll have even more officers on tonight, because this has escalated to opportunistic criminality across the capital.

"I'm more than confident we'll have enough officers throughout London."

He added: "For those who wish to go out and thieve from local businesses, my officers will be out there and will be very robust in clamping down on this."

Despite such a powerful warning, there is no doubt that policing multiple trouble spots is far from easy.

Small, highly mobile groups vandalising and looting businesses and then quickly disappearing, is challenging to say the least.

Senior officers will have to be quick and highly flexible in their deployment of resources; something their critics say has been lacking in recent days.

Met commanders freely admit that on Saturday, the ferocity of the violence and destruction in Tottenham took them completely by surprise.

But should they have been surprised?

After all, their officers had been involved in the highly controversial fatal shooting of a local man two days earlier.

Community leaders and local politicians had warned of the potential for serious disorder.

However, the police faced a dilemma.

Given the anger in that community and suspicion of the police in the days after the shooting, if they had flooded the area with officers ahead of any trouble, it might simply have provoked the violence anyway.

Still, there is no doubt the Met have questions to answer about the speed of the response when disturbances finally erupted.

Key among the questions, why were significant public order response teams not stationed near Tottenham and available to rapidly deal with any trouble?

Such questions will hopefully be answered in the fullness of time. The priority at the moment is to put a lid on any potential for more trouble in the days ahead.

Privately, officers fear there is a strong likelihood of further disorder - a rapid and robust response will be key to nipping it in the bud and ensuring it does not become even more widespread.

History has often demonstrated how such events have the potential to spread to other cities.

Police forces across the country will be watching the response of their colleagues in London and hoping they are not faced with the same challenges in the weeks ahead.