Police chief calls for riots training review

The number of police officers trained to deal with public disorder needs to be reviewed following summer riots that broke out across the West Midlands, a report revealed today.

Yobs rampaged through the streets of Wolverhampton, Birmingham and West Bromwich for two nights in August, causing millions of pounds worth of damage, ransacking stores and stripping shelves of stock.

Midlands Police's chief constable was today presenting a report outlining the force's response to the riots to a meeting of the Police Authority.

An investigation codenamed Operation View has examined all aspects of the 48-hour period and the surrounding days and a series of recommendations have now been made.

A report, drawn up by Chief Constable Chris Sims, states: "West Midlands Police needs to review its capability and capacity of public order-trained personnel and the specialist resources and equipment that support this function."

The report also reveals of the 761 people arrested in connection with the riots, only 169 have been convicted so far with 128 more charged.

A total of 158 are somewhere along the criminal justice process.

"Clearly there is little to gain by listing the sentences of each person convicted, but notable sentences include one offender receiving five years nine months for robbery, with another being sentenced to three years for burglary," the report adds.

Police have released a series of CCTV images to help identify people involved in the riots, with the last batch released last month.

The mob targeted streets around Wolverhampton city centre including Queen Street, Princess Street, Wulfruna Street and King Street after a night of terror in Birmingham, which saw the Mailbox closed off and buses and trains diverted away from the centre because of the disruption.

The police operation cost around £7m while the damage was estimated to rack up to around £6m.

Operation View has now been scaled down and is due to come to a close next month.