Two-tier policing ‘nonsense’, Cleveland Police chief tells riot probe MPs

Staffordshire Police chief constable Chris Noble told the MPs it did not “make any sense for policing at all to show favouritism whenever we’re built on respect for the rule of the law”.

He added: “If two-tier policing is bringing people swiftly to justice, I’m not quite sure many people would argue with that.”

The allegations were “not nice to hear, but we’ve got relatively thick skin”, he said.

Judi Heaton, chief constable of Humberside Police, told the committee how vital a quickly functioning justice system was to “nip this [the riots] in the bud”, adding: “We couldn’t have a situation where, nationally, we were facing disorder like this, day in, day out, week in, week out.

“So actually, swift justice happening and being seen to happen was really important.”

Ms Heaton, said her force had initially taken a “low-key approach” to policing the disorder but had “never seen anything like it” when violence and looting broke out in Hull.

Jake Richards MP told Ms Heaton he was aware officers had “raised a number of issues” including “members of the Chief Officer Group not being in the region in the days leading to and during the riots”.

In response, the chief constable insisted they “were around” and had worked “continuously”.

Ms Heaton also told the committee she was “not aware” of officers, who had been injured during the disorder, being taken to hospital in taxis or personal vehicles.