Police handed £1m bill for summer riot help

A senior officer revealed the bill was built up as South Yorkshire helped out riot-hit forces in other parts of the country. Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Bob Sanderson, who said the force would be making an application to recover the costs, also rejected calls for social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to be shut down in the event of future riots.

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs select committee as part of an inquiry into the riots, Mr Sanderson said the force had monitored sites “24-seven” and that they had proved to be a “key source of intelligence” as well as enabling officers to spread their own messages and dispel false rumours.

He claimed that good communication with communities and a proactive approach meant the streets were kept quiet while looters raided shops and arsonists set buildings alight in other cities around the country, in the midst of the trouble in August.

The cost to the force, which sent officers to London and Greater Manchester as the riots spread, was “just short of £1m”, he said.

“Three quarters of that is payment for officers that weren’t working in South Yorkshire, that were lent to the Met etc. That’s not the cost of policing the streets of South Yorkshire.”

Mr Sanderson said he was confident the cost would be recovered from the Home Office or the forces it aided, and said that talks have already been held to ensure this happens.