Extinction Rebellion protest cost police £21 million and hit crime investigations, says Cressida Dick

Extinction Rebellion protest - Getty Images Europe
Extinction Rebellion protest - Getty Images Europe

Extinction Rebellion’s protests cost £21 million to police and led to other investigations being stalled and some policing “not done at all,” Britain’s most senior police officer has revealed.

Cressida Dick said that it meant that with the additional £16 million from Extinction Rebellion’s action in April, the total policing cost was more than twice the annual £15 million budget of London’s Violent Crime Taskforce.

She said the protests - many of which were unlawful - had placed a “horrendous” strain on London and diverted officers away from other vital crime fighting and prevention roles. Some 8,000 officers, more than a quarter of the city’s force, had to be deployed to tackle the protest.

The result she said was “a less good service to the rest of London. Partly because people get tired and partly because we just had to slow down certain types of inquiries, certain types of investigations would just be done more slowly and some things won't ever be done at all."

No serious crime or 999 calls had been affected, said Ms Dick, but Detectives had been called in to cover some frontline duties and officers had been taken off neighbourhood and school patrols.

People who contacted police over a minor incident had been told “we can’t deal with that now and probably won’t be able to do so for a while,” she said.

The £21 million included £3.5 million for overtime, just under £6 million for officers who were drafted in from 38 other forces in England and Wales, and £11.8 million staffing costs.

A total of 1,828 protestors were arrested, of whom 164 have so far been charged. In April 1,148 activists were held, of whom more than 900 were charged, mostly receiving a conditional discharge. Police recovered up to 80 tonnes of equipment, including tents and toilets, that will go to landfill.

Senior officers have been in talks with ministers about potential changes to public order legislation since the action in April. These could include banning orders to stop activists who repeatedly protest unlawfully, and a new criminal offence of attaching items to the road.

Ms Dick said there was also a “conversation to be had” about tougher financial penalties or recouping the costs from the protestors. The Metropolitan Police will apply to the Home Office to cover the cost of the protest action.