Police force does not have enough riot trained officers.

[bigpaul]

Devon and Cornwall police were among 5 forces found not to have enough riot trained officers to meet "local outbreaks of disorder". the others are: Avon and Somerset, Sussex, Leicestershire and Lancashire. inspectors found that the 43 regional forces boasted 769 police support "units".

[Barneyboy]

I think they are saying they are short of men ,because they want to bring in the water canons

[bigpaul]

The Devon and Cornwall force have ALWAYS been short of men, it sort of goes with the territory, and as for water cannon -I believe these are ear marked for the BIG cities, there are only TWO cities in Devon and neither that big as cities go.

[Mortblanc]

I have noticed over the years that the proper number of "riot troops" is a highly subjective number.

If the other guy is rioting there are never enough.

If YOU are rioting there are always too many!

Over here these "shortages" are not really considered an issue because our local police forces will cross jurisdictional lines to reinforce each other on request, and we have National Guard units that are riot trained specifically for these instances. At this point in time most of our National Guard troops have seen combat in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

According to a couple of treaties Obama has signed, we can also request help from the Armies of Mexico and Canada to suppress local insurrections.