Pledge to Yorkshire communities as forces answer call for help

Yorkshire police chiefs insisted they had enough resources to deal with local incidents last night after some of the region’s officers were sent to London to tackle the rioting.

The region’s two smallest forces, North Yorkshire and Humberside, answered a call for help from Scotland Yard and agreed to despatch officers to the capital.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed it had received the request and was considering it “on an hourly basis”, although it was understood that West Yorkshire officers would not be sent.

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All four forces were planning to deploy more officers than normal to reassure residents and contend with any offenders who carry out “copycat” crimes like those seen in Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.

The temporary Deputy Chief Constable of North Yorkshire, Tim Madgwick, said: “Residents can expect to see extra officers on patrol in their communities over the next 24 hours, as a combination of shift changes and contingency plans allow us to provide extra patrols to reassure our local communities.

“I would also like to reassure residents that North Yorkshire Police’s capability and day-to-day policing is unaffected by the extra support we have provided to the Metropolitan Police Service.

“North Yorkshire’s communities and policing needs are a priority, and mutual aid will only be considered if it does not impact on policing our own communities. Our current deployment of mutual aid is relative to our size and does not affect our operational capability.”

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Humberside Deputy Chief Constable David Griffin said: “There have been no incidents of large scale disorder or criminality in the Humberside area following the recent incidents in London and there is no current intelligence to suggest this is likely.

“Nevertheless, in response to these national incidents, Humberside Police have developed robust and effective plans to deal with any calls for service or incidents of disorder and criminality in the force or in neighbouring force areas.

“We are working closely with local partners and communities to reassure them that the force will continue to maintain normal service levels of policing to ensure we protect local communities from harm in a professional way.

“It is important that local people can go about their normal business peacefully and we will respond to any attempts to ‘copycat’ the mindless violence and criminality seen elsewhere, swiftly and firmly.”