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Bill Bratton: "My assignment is to focus on the American experience dealing with gangs"
Communities cannot "arrest their way out" of gang crime, the prime minister's new crime adviser, US "supercop" Bill Bratton, has warned.
The former New York police chief meets David Cameron next month to discuss violence in English cities and says the issue is for society as a whole.About 2,250 people have been arrested after days of riots, arson and looting, with dozens facing court on Saturday.
Extra police numbers will be maintained on city streets through the weekend.
But the Chancellor, George Osborne, has dismissed calls to reverse cuts to police budgets. He welcomed the advice from Mr Bratton, saying that he would help tackle the "deep-seated social problems" behind the riots.
Mr Bratton, who is also credited with restoring law and order in Los Angeles after the riots there in 1992, told US broadcaster ABC: "You can't arrest your way out of the problem.
"Arrest is certainly appropriate for the most violent, the incorrigible, but so much of it can be addressed in other ways and it's not just a police issue, it is in fact a societal issue."
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Bill Bratton is not a complete outsider to British policing. He's been a consultant advising different forces.
His initial success in New York relied on big increases in resources - recruiting 5,000 new better trained officers. They needed a local crime tax to pay for that. In London, flooding the streets has only been possible as a temporary measure.
In Los Angeles he worked on smaller budgets, specifically tackling gangs, using Big Society ideas of local areas taking responsibility for fighting crime in their neighbourhoods.
He's talked of using escalating force - rubber bullets, water cannon, tasers - something David Cameron has also been talking about.
There are people in this country saying "we invented neighbourhood policing". It's a bit of a slap in the face for some of Britain's top police.
His initial success in New York relied on big increases in resources - recruiting 5,000 new better trained officers. They needed a local crime tax to pay for that. In London, flooding the streets has only been possible as a temporary measure.
In Los Angeles he worked on smaller budgets, specifically tackling gangs, using Big Society ideas of local areas taking responsibility for fighting crime in their neighbourhoods.
He's talked of using escalating force - rubber bullets, water cannon, tasers - something David Cameron has also been talking about.
There are people in this country saying "we invented neighbourhood policing". It's a bit of a slap in the face for some of Britain's top police.
Accepting that the necessary changes would not be easy, he added: "Part of what the government is going to do is to take a look at what worked and what didn't work during the course of the last week."
He said he would share his experience of combining tough tactics with community outreach to reduce US gang violence in a bid to prevent recurrences of the violence in the UK.Ahead of their first Saturday night policing the streets since trouble first flared seven days earlier, forces across the country are also contending with their usual Saturday commitments, including the start of the Premier League football season and a full programme of lower league matches.
Meanwhile, several courts around the country are opening over the weekend to fast-track cases, with some magistrates sitting until 20:00 BST.
The number of people across England charged with offences such as violent disorder, burglary and theft has now passed 1,000, including 704 in London.
Other developments related to last week's rioting in London, the East and West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool and Gloucester, include:
- A man has been charged with robbery in connection with the attack on Malaysian student Asyraf Haziq, 20, who was mugged by apparent Good Samaritans after being hurt in riots in east London
- Two men have been arrested over the death of Trevor Ellis, who was found with bullet wounds in a car in Croydon, south London, during Monday night's rioting
- Families of three men killed when hit by a car in Birmingham during the riots have praised people for their response, as police get more time to question three suspects
- Images of suspects continue to be displayed to shoppers on a large city centre screen in Birmingham
- Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been visiting Manchester, where more than 100 premises in the city and in nearby Salford were looted during disturbances
- A judge commended the parents of a boy, 14, who handed him to police after seeing a CCTV image of him, in a newspaper, stealing chewing gum through a shop window
- Merseyside Police have released CCTV images of suspects thought to be involved in rioting
- On a visit to riot-hit Hackney in east London, Labour leader Ed Miliband reiterated his calls for a public inquiry into the riots, saying it was imperative to have a "national discussion" to address the issues behind the disturbances.
"This is not just about police budgets," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
"This is about a far bigger challenge for our society, which is dealing with people who we have ignored for too long; helping them feel they have got a stake in society."
'Different culture' Downing Street said Mr Bratton would not be a long-term, paid consultant and would not be formally appointed to any UK police force.
However, Metropolitan Police Federation chairman John Tully said he did not think American advice would help.
"Although he has a glittering record across in the States, it's a different style of policing. The gang culture's different," he said.
Bill Bratton (left) is credited for cutting crime after the 1992 LA riots "The Americans didn't cure the social problems in New York. What they did is they locked people up. That's how zero tolerance works. We haven't got the heart for that over here," he said.
Meanwhile, Manchester magistrate Richard Monkhouse warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" to the violence.
"Simply to say that locking somebody up is the only option is not sensible," he said.
"Sometimes you think, well, are we actually trying to do this too quickly. Are we trying to do this without all the full information that magistrates can assess what the seriousness of the offence and who the offender is?"
And human rights barrister Matthew Ryder said rushing cases through court was a "recipe for problems".
"A fair result's much harder to attain if you're trying to do things very, very quickly. It may mean that people who have a minor role will be elevated and people who have a serious role won't be properly identified," he added.
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