Police can not use water cannons in London: Home Secretary

British Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out on Wednesday the use of water cannons by police forces in London, or any part of England and Wales.

The decision was greeted with regret in London where both the Metropolitan Police and Mayor Boris Johnson wanted to add water cannons to their police armory.

Currently the only part of Britain where water cannons are authorized for use is in Northern Ireland. Their use there was sanctioned at the height of the Irish troubles.

May told the British House of Commons that following a series of riots and disturbances in English cities in the summer of 2011, police reviewed the range of tactics and equipment available to manage public disorder. The Metropolitan Police Service identified water cannon as a potential option.

In March 2014 the Home Secretary was handed a formal request from 43 police forces covering England and Wales for German-made Ziegler Wasserwerfer water cannons to be made available as a policing tactic.

The Mayor of London's Office for Policing and Crime approved the purchase of three Ziegler Wasserwerfer 9000 water cannons from German federal police, which arrived in Britain in July 2014, but remained unused.

"Water cannons, without safeguards, have the capacity to cause harm. It is a police tactic that has not been used in Great Britain previously and some argue that its introduction would change the face of British policing," May told MPs.

The Home Secretary contacted senior former chief constables to gain a better understanding of the operational context in which water cannons could be used, citing events such as Israeli Embassy demonstrations in London, student protests and the G20 protests in London in 2009, as well as the summer riots in 2011.

"I have decided not to authorize the Wasserwerfer 9000 water cannons as a policing tactic for operational use in England and Wales," said May. "I am acutely conscious of the potential impact of water cannons on public perceptions of police legitimacy. This country has a proud history of policing by consent and this is a decision which goes to its very heart."

The London Evening Standard on Wednesday described the decision as embarrassing to Johnson because "it could turn the German-built machines into a costly white elephant".

"They were bought second hand for 218,000 pounds (341,000 U.S. dollars) last June, imported to Britain disguised as rubbish carts, and then treated to expensive adaptation and testing by the Met (Metropolitan Police)," reported the Standard which described Johnson's reaction as "crestfallen".

Labor's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said water cannons would have "weaponized policing".

"Our model is based on nearly two centuries of policing by consent, with people becoming police officers to represent their communities and protect their communities. To further weaponize our model of policing would be to irrevocably damage our model of policing," he added. Endi