Nick Herbert
'falling police numbers will not necessarily lead to a worse front line service.'
The Telegraph has reported that troops are being trained in riot control in anticipation of further disturbances on the streets of this country during the summer.
There doesn't appear to be any formal response from the Government yet. Defence and military commentators have suggested that this is a sensible contingency for the Olympics and lessons learned from the riots last August. I am sure that is part of the reason. The other part is that following the cuts to police budgets there are 6000 less police officers than last August and numbers are likely to drop further.
If it all goes pear shaped this summer there may not be the police officer numbers to deal with it.
Watch the 'swampie' brigade and Saint Shami howling with protest if they see squaddies wielding batons on the streets. They will be demanding those nice police officers back.