PCC Response - An inspection of the police response to the public disorder in July and August 2024: Tranche 1

30 January 2025

Dear Home Secretary

I have received and read the report of the Inspection that has been completed by  His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) - An inspection of the police response to the public disorder in July and August 2024: Tranche 1.

During the events across the UK in July and August 2024, thankfully Bedfordshire avoided any unrest and criminal behaviour caused by rioters associated with the far right and criminals. No arrests were made.

In part, this is due to the long-established social cohesion and community building between our communities, the police and the local authorities in Bedfordshire.

This enabled the local authorities and police to provide guarantees and reassurance and should it have been necessary protection to at risk communities in Luton and Bedford.

Social cohesion is a particular strength in Bedfordshire, and the specialist social cohesion team is very well respected across the county. The response of the community was positive with support shown for both those targeted by online abuse and the police service.

I personally spoke to members of the affected communities and was very pleased to hear their positive view of Bedfordshire Police. They knew that - had it been necessary - the police would have been prepared to protect them and their neighbourhoods,

Operation Navette proved that the mutual aid system between all police services can be effective and demonstrates that we do not necessarily need a new national arrangement for mutual aid.

Bedfordshire Police contributed to Operation Navette and would have used support from other police services had that been necessary. The Eastern Region Special Operation Unit was able to use artificial intelligence tools to scan multiple databases to monitor intelligence during Operation Navette.

I welcome the three recommendations contained in the HMICFRS report. Having discussed the report with Bedfordshire’s Chief Constable, who also has responsible for ERSOU, I have received specifics relating to the recommendations, which are as follows.

1.3 – Bedfordshire Police has a drone capability in place and available 24/7. Any specialist deployment, high risk or threat to life incident will be assessed and deployed as appropriate.

3.1 – Bedfordshire Police has no current protocol in place but there is regional working group involving the Eastern Ambulance Service Team. Work with local hospitals is now commencing and will then feed into an agreement / memorandum of understanding (MOU).

3.2 – Bedfordshire Police has wellbeing structures within any Public Order and Public Safety command structures and protocol has already been written into BCH C5 training. This will be delivered across all commanders within their annual CPD within the next quarters training schedule.

The annual Command refresher training has been updated to include:

• the appointment of a dedicated Bronze wellbeing officer
• bespoke briefings regarding wellbeing
• post deployment debriefs to include wellbeing

Public Order training and associated specialist support is provided across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police services through the BCH Joint Protective Services alongside the relevant Force leads.

The governance of ongoing work will be overseen through the Public Order, Public Safety (POPS) Board and an associated action plan from the HMICFRS report has been agreed and as PCC I expect to receive regular updates

The work that is currently being reviewed through the NPCC and College of Policing (CoP) will feed down through national POPs governance and will be implemented as clarity is obtained.

As PCC, I was incredibly impressed with how Bedfordshire was spared the right-wing thuggery and criminality that took place in other parts of the country. The police and their public service partners, community and faith leaders and others who contributed to this are to be commended. There was much praise received for the police, who were well prepared and ensured that there was no breakout of disorder in Bedfordshire.

I will be closely monitoring any developments through performance and governance board meetings with the Chief Constable to hold Bedfordshire Police to account, as well as exploring the learning from the summer’s events that may assist in the prevention of future disorder.

Yours Sincerely

John Tizard

Police and Crime Commissioner