Weekend of protests in Brighton and Hove costs taxpayers £700k

The cost of policing protests in Brighton and Hove over the long bank holiday weekend has been estimated to have topped £700,000.

The final bill for Sussex Police for the jubilee bank holiday weekend in the city may even be closer to £800,000.

The higher figure includes about £40,000 that was spent as a result of Fat Boy Slim’s two stadium gigs at the American Express Community Stadium in Falmer. The cost will be reclaimed from the organisers of the Big Beach Bootique 5.

But today (Monday 11 June) the force set out the price of protest and some of the factors that played a part in police decision-making.

The revelation comes after English nationalists and UK Uncut took to the streets on the same day and were followed by a Smash EDO march two days later.

Sussex Police said: “The four-day bank holiday weekend marking the Queen’s diamond jubilee presented unique policing considerations.

“With more than 400 notified events across Sussex and many other spontaneous celebrations, road closures for street parties affecting the transport network and extra days off work for many people, Sussex Police anticipated a busy weekend and planned at a force level to ensure business as usual.

“In addition to the many small community-led events, larger events in Brighton and Hove required tailored policing plans.

“These resulted in the use of officers from other forces and extended shifts to help keep everyone in the city safe while maintaining policing across the rest of Sussex.

“On Friday and Saturday evenings, police supported the Big Beach Bootique music event at the Amex Stadium.

“The costs of around £40,000 for policing this event will be reclaimed from the event organisers.

“On Saturday, nationalist-affiliated groups met in Brighton city centre and people supporting the UK Uncut movement held a gathering.

“Later in the day there was a spontaneous march and some conflict between groups, with 18 arrests in total.

“Policing for the day is estimated to have cost £340,000.

“On Monday supporters of Smash EDO held a march from central Brighton to Hove Town Hall, sharing their plans online and in an open letter to the media.

“This event passed without major disruption and with no arrests.

“The policing operation is estimated to have cost £280,000.

“All the events in central Brighton and Hove saw many fewer attendees than expected, with very few incidents of disorder.

“With the addition of consequential overtime for some officers elsewhere in Sussex who worked longer hours to cover abstractions to the city, it is likely the weekend’s policing will cost between £750,000 and £800,000.”

Chief Superintendent Paul Morrison, head of Sussex Police’s Operations Department, who oversaw planning for the weekend, said: “Weekends like this highlight the challenge of policing uncertainty.

“Throughout planning and on the day, the cost of operations is a constant consideration, alongside an overriding duty to be sufficiently resourced to keep people safe in any likely scenario.

“We must base this on expectations and experience of previous events, without certainty about what the day will bring.

“Our planning model is based on a number of factors, such as notified intentions and discussions with event organisers to identify anticipated numbers and planned activity, whether there are other simultaneous events – particularly if they could create conflict – and experience of how closely previously events held by the groups have matched their notified intentions and if they have resulted in disorder.

“Over this weekend all of these factors – uncertainty about the intentions of some groups, high predicted numbers of attendees, possible conflict between groups on Saturday and significant disorder seen at previous events held by some of the groups – contributed to an assessment that we would require a high level of resourcing.

“On the day of operations we have some options to reduce resourcing and costs, which we took as the weekend developed.

“This included standing down many officers earlier on – with those from forces furthest away going off duty first – and reducing resources for Monday based on Saturday’s experience.

“Although the events were not directly related to the jubilee, their timing over the extended weekend was another factor that contributed to higher costs.

“This is because the neighbouring forces we’d usually use for mutual aid were already largely committed to longstanding events in London, requiring us to use forces from much further away, incurring additional travelling and accommodation costs.

“Also, on Monday, the additional officers were paid bank holiday rates, double that of usual shifts.

“We are ever mindful that we are publicly funded and take our obligation to police proportionately and cost-effectively very seriously, particularly in the current financial climate.

“Having followed a thorough planning process already, we are reviewing our approach to identify if we can do anything more cost-effectively, while still keeping public safety paramount.

“In addition to reviewing our processes, I also repeat our plea for organisers of these kinds of events to work with us.

“We are committed to facilitating peaceful events – as most of those over the weekend were – and sharing as much detail as possible in advance really assists us in providing the most proportionate policing response.

“Most of the groups this weekend did liaise directly with us, although some of their plans were unspecific, and we are committed to continue building trust so all groups feel confident in doing so.”