Met’s crime prevention tactics double the arrests at Notting Hill Carnival

The Notting Hill Carnival saw the most proactive crime prevention strategy employed by the Met in its 44-year history resulting in reduced numbers of victims but double the arrests.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, Gold Commander for the event, said: “For the first time in the 23 years that I have been involved in the carnival, we did not have one stabbing or one shooting.”

The Met invoked Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to deal with potential violence and the use of weapons and made in excess of 420 arrests during the two days, up from 246 the previous year. This included the detention in South London of 158 youths who were intending on travelling to the carnival to commit disorder.

The event passed peacefully until the second day when around 40 youths gathered in Ladbroke Grove and fought a two-hour running battle with police, throwing bottles and stones at officers. Around 39 officers received minor injuries.

“It was challenging on the Monday night; I pay tribute to those officers who dealt with individuals who acted in a calm and professional way to deal with these disturbances,” added DAC Allison.

The violence was unusual – often there are items thrown by individuals in an isolated and piecemeal basis – but Monday night’s violence involved more people in a sustained attack in one location. A post-event investigation has been launched to bring the individuals involved to justice.

The Met intercepted around 180 youths from three groups in South London who decided to join forces to travel to the carnival on Monday afternoon, and 158 were arrested and taken to police stations.

DAC Allison said: “I have no doubt that they would have gone to the carnival and a number would have committed disorder.”

The Met built on successful intervention tactics that were introduced last year to deal with youth violence and concerns over knife crime.

A significant intelligence operation took place to target those intending to attend the carnival to commit crime. A large number of warrants were executed in advance where a firearm and knives were recovered. Letters were sent to over 200 people telling them not to attend the carnival or face the prospect of arrest.

DAC Allison said the tactics were hugely successful and included creating rings around the carnival area. The first ring was manned by British Transport Police using knife arches, an ANPR operation scanned vehicles for occupants of interest and teams made use of search wands and the Section 60 powers.

High-profile policing was used within the perimeter, officers were instructed to engage with carnivalists and an extensive CCTV operation was mounted.

Twice the usual number of dog handlers were deployed to tackle the growing use of dogs as weapons of choice. During the two days the police seized 21 dogs.

There were almost 6,000 officers deployed on each day of the carnival to police almost one million visitors over the course of the event.