The Commissioner, together with Acting Chief Constable, Jim Colwell, and Chief Crown Prosecutor (South West), Victoria Cook, issues open letter to communities on the recent disorder.

An open letter to the communities of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

As the Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, we are appalled by the violence that has occurred in our area in recent days under the guise of protest. We will always support legitimate protest, but violence, racism, disorder, criminal damage, and the community fear that this generates will not be tolerated.

We would like to assure the communities we serve that the agencies within the criminal justice system are dealing with criminality swiftly. You will already have seen charges of individuals involved both locally and nationally. Several individuals have already been remanded into custody at various locations. Of the six people arrested in Plymouth, four have pleaded guilty to offences under Section 2 of the Public Order Act 1986. Sentencing for their crimes is due to happen today (Thursday 8 August) and their photographs have already been published. Working together with our LCJB partners, we will act quickly and continue to use all powers available at our disposal to bring these criminals to justice.

Our partnership intelligence and information systems ensure that we will have local and national resources available to respond and deal as necessary to future disorder to keep our communities safe.

We would like to thank the law-abiding people of Devon and Cornwall for their support at this time and give a commitment that where we have the evidence of people choosing to participate in any activity of this nature, either directly or online, they will be arrested, detained, charged and sentenced.

If you have any information about violent disorder being planned, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 www.crimestoppers-uk.org or call the police on 101. In an emergency call 999.