New 'riot squad commander' to direct national police response to public disorder

The Home Secretary will announce on Monday a new National Police Service (NPS) - Britain’s FBI - to investigate the most serious and complex crimes, to try and ease pressure on local forces.

As part of that, a national public order commander will be brought in to coordinate intelligence and resources if widespread disorder breaks out.

It follows criticism of the speed at which police responded to UK-wide riots in Summer 2024, following the Southport attack - where three young girls were stabbed to death by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift themed dance class.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told LBC: “Officers work courageously to bring peace to our streets when violent disorder breaks out, but we must do more to support their brave actions.

"We will establish a National Public Order Commander to crack down on disruption to keep our communities safe."

LBC can reveal the new senior coordinator will be tasked with directing local forces to send resources to any area expecting disorder, while ensuring data and intelligence is shared nationally.

Mutual aid - when officers from elsewhere in the country are drafted in to support another force - is often used when there are large gatherings expected, including for sporting events, major conferences or festivals.

More often, though, it is drawn on to support forces facing protracted, violent and large-scale protests, like was seen in Essex during the asylum hotel demonstrations in Epping last year, or the riots that started in London in 2011.

The Home Office says demonstrations and disorder have now become quicker to appear and faster to spread geographically, leading to the need for a national approach.

Following the Southport riots in 2024, which hit towns and cities across the UK, the chief inspector of police warned that forces were ill-prepared for the scale of disorder that broke out.

Sir Andy Cooke said police intelligence didn’t predict the “rising tide of violent disorder well enough”.

Then-Policing Minister Dane Diana Johnson also told MPs that “the structures were not designed for a national response” to disorder at that level and that the partnership working that happened between forces was “in spite of - not because of - the structures that existed."

LBC understands the new public order commander at the National Police Service will not be responsible for local public order responses, which will remain the remit of chief constables, but will take over decision making for more significantly spread disorder.

Nick Smart, president of the Police Superintendents Association, told LBC: “We don't have a magic box of officers that we just break open every time and say, here you go, there's another 400 or 500.

"It's the same people doing football, doing protests that would have to be mobilised to respond to nationally critical incidents. 

"But if what’s being proposed makes it a more efficient response, and a better use of resources to mitigate the threat, then we are being broadly supportive. What we would say is that whoever that individual is would need operational independence.

"We would like to know who they report to because we are very clear there cannot be political interference in operational policing, and we have seen that in previous incidents."

Blair Gibbs, director of the Police Foundation thinktank, said he hopes the appointment will help keep police ahead of the rapidly changing nature of protests.

He told LBC: “In the last two decades, we've been experiencing a different nature of disorder, which is much more volatile, quicker to emerge and spread with demonstrations that are infiltrated by extremists and then become much more damaging and disruptive.

"This gives the whole system a bit more grip. Why wouldn't you want to have a single place where there was a clear line of command?

"And in an emergency situation like we’ve had, where disorder spreads across the country and seems to be hard to contain, you want some person in charge who can direct local forces and also be the single communicator to the public.”

The Home Office says the creation of the national public order commander role will enable policing to continue to safeguard the right to protest while better protecting communities with police given the tools to “act firmly and decisively” against violent disorder.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will take LBC listeners' questions on Nick Ferrari at Breakfast from 8am on Tuesday.