Comment: Protests can mobilise in minutes. Our policing model still runs on a 15-year delay
By Timothy Ibbotson, Lecturer in Policing, Buckinghamshire New University
Policing is rarely out of the headlines. But the reality of the job - its pressures, pace and risks - remains widely misunderstood.
Nowhere is that more true than public order policing.
Recent scenes of unrest across the UK and Northern Ireland have underlined just how quickly tensions can escalate - and how difficult it is for policing to keep pace.
If we are to keep up, we may need to fundamentally rethink how public order policing is structured – including whether a dedicated, rapid-response national capability is now required.
Today disorder can ignite in minutes. A single incident amplified online, can draw hundreds to the streets before officers have even been briefed. Rumour spreads faster than verification. Narratives form before facts.
Yet the system we rely on to manage this hasn't fundamentally changed in over a decade.
The 2011 riots were the first major example of digitally coordinated disorder. Since then, smartphones, encrypted messaging and algorithm-driven platforms have transformed how crowds form and behave. But our policing model remains largely the same.
We are trying to manage real-time, networked crises with a system designed for slower, more predictable events.
Having spent decades in frontline and public order roles, including policing large-scale operations in London, I have seen how quickly situations can shift. Officers can be redeployed from neighbourhood teams or response units at short notice, leaving gaps elsewhere - while still waiting or additional support to arrive.
The public often assumes there is a standing reserve of riot police ready to deploy. There isn't.
Most public order officers are drawn from other roles - response teams, neighbourhood beats and active criminal investigations - and redeployed when unrest breaks out. When forces run short, they rely on "Mutual Aid", requesting officers from elsewhere in the country.
This takes time.
And time is exactly what modern disorder doesn't allow.
This creates a dangerous domino effect. When we rob Peter to pay Paul to police a riot, it is ordinary communities who pay the price.
The consequences ripple far beyond the protest itself. Emergency response times lengthen. Visible policing disappears from communities. Victims of everyday crime wait longer for help.
Meanwhile, officers on the frontline face significant risk. Public order deployments are unpredictable, volatile and, at times, deeply dangerous - both physically and psychologically.
None of this is an argument against protest. The right to peaceful, lawful demonstration is fundamental to a democratic society.
But when situations escalate, the state must be able to respond immediately - not hours later, once resources have been assembled.
That raises a difficult question: is our current model fit for the world we live in now?
There is an alternative.
We could establish a dedicated national public order capability, based in strategic locations across the UK, able to deploy rapidly wherever needed. A full-time, specialist workforce - not a reactive patchwork.
We already have a working example. The Metropolitan Police's Territorial Support Group (TSG) operates 24/7, providing highly trained officers who can respond quickly to emerging threats across London.
A national model could extend that capability, giving local forces immediate access to specialist support while allowing them to maintain core services in their communities.
Between deployments, these officers would not sit idle. They could support high-risk operations, search for vulnerable missing persons, and assist in complex policing activity nationwide.
This is not a small change. It would challenge long-standing assumptions about how policing is structured and delivered
But the landscape has already changed.
Public disorder is faster, more fluid and more unpredictable than it was 15 years ago. If we continue to stretch a system designed for a different era, the risk is not just inefficiency - but failure at the moments when it matters most.