Home Secretary Theresa May has said no to water cannon as a policing tactic for operational use in England and Wales.
This arises because of Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s keenness to bring in water cannon in case of a repeat of the August 2011 rioting and looting. Johnson said: “I am disappointed that the Home Secretary has decided not to grant a licence for the use of water cannon, despite strong support for being able to use them if absolutely needed by both the Met Police Commissioner and the Prime Minister and indeed the people of London, 68 per cent were in favour when polled.
“We will continue to maintain the water cannon and train officers in their use. In the vanishingly unlikely event that they may be necessary to combat widespread destruction of property or risk to life, as the Home Secretary has confirmed today, it is open to the police to apply again to use them.”
Among the documents released by the Home Office, a briefing paper sent by the Chief Constable of Merseyside Sir Jon Murphy, and a letter to Theresa May by Chief Constable of West Mercia Police David Shaw, go into most detail about why water cannon would have been of limited, or even counter-productive use, during the August 2011 riots.
Theresa May said: “The decision on whether to authorise water cannon is a serious one. Water cannon, without safeguards, have the capacity to cause harm. It is a police tactic that has not been used in Great Britain previously and there are those who argue that its introduction would change the face of British policing. This country has a proud history of policing by consent and this is a decision which goes to its very heart. Since I became Home Secretary, I have been determined to give the police the powers and tools they need to cut crime and tackle disorder on our streets.
“But where the medical and scientific evidence suggests that those powers could cause serious harm, where the operational case is not clear, and where the historic principle of policing by consent could be placed at risk, I will not give my agreement. The application for the authorisation of the Wasserwerfer 9000 water cannon does not meet that high threshold.”
The Home Office said that before the Home Secretary made her decision, a full independent review of the medical implications of water cannon and a further review of the latest police guidance, training and maintenance documents were completed. Formal operational performance trials of the three Ziegler Wasserwerfer 9000 water cannon vehicles procured by the Metropolitan Police were conducted by the Home Office’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology.
The Home Secretary says that the rationale for her decision was threefold:
The medical and technical assessment poses a series of direct and indirect medical risks from the use of water cannon. The machines under consideration have also required serious alterations and repairs to meet the necessary standards. The final assessment by the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons (SACMILL) found 67 separate outstanding issues which would need to be addressed before they could be deployed.
Water cannon have limitations, especially in response to fast, agile disorder. Chief constables also raised the possibility that they could attract crowds to a vulnerable location.
The deployment of water cannon in areas with a history of mistrust of the police has the potential to be entirely counterproductive and could negatively impact on public perceptions of police legitimacy.
London Assembly welcome
Joanne McCartney, Chair of the Police and Crime Committee at the London Assembly said: “Last year the Committee wrote to the Home Secretary outlining the findings of our report and we were pleased to receive a positive response shortly afterwards which welcomed our scrutiny of the actions and decisions of the Mayor. Our report found that a case didn’t exist for the Mayor’s decision to fund water cannon – which could cost up to £220,000 if they cannot be resold – and today’s announcement echoes our findings. We heard the Home Secretary say today that there are “serious faults” recorded with the three purchased water cannons and that medical and scientific evidence is that they can cause serious harm. This is, of course, deeply concerning and as a result we welcome today’s decision, knowing that Londoners will not be policed with such tactics.”
