In August 2011, the UK police chiefs admitted that tactical mistakes allowed vandals to loot and destroy shops, houses and markets across the UK. Police commanders and decision-makers face the consequences of these tactical mistakes and weak decision-making processes — two key elements that badly damaged the image of the UK police force. A recent private research report revealed that police officers had abandoned the streets and markets to the looters due to the failure of their coordination and communication systems during the riots. According to a leaked review of the UK police federation, police failure during the riots was miserable and all its strategies remained ineffective. The police’s national information coordination centre, which works with the cabinet office crisis management team, did not tackle the riots properly. During the riots, the police was not able to call upon the community for calming the disturbances. Its communication and surveillance systems failed and insufficient riot gear restricted the number of officers that could be safely deployed. Communication between various police units was disrupted and officers were dispatched without equipment. The government had no contingency plans for the officers on the spot. Senior police officers like Sir Denis accepted the problem of intelligence weakness between the police and the community. Unless these problems are addressed, the confidence of the business community will not be restored. The police national information centre failed to respond effectively. On October 12, 2011, the Daily Mail reported police chief Bernard Hogan as having said that the former police commander had failed to put enough police on the streets. Bernard Hogan told MPs that police tactics were flawed and a review of intelligence was needed. Scotland Yard, specifically, failed to tackle the issue in a professional manner. Police officers’ involvement in phone hacking scandals also damaged the reputation of the force.Policing in the UK has faced severe criticism from various communities due to flawed strategies to tackle disorder. Ordinary people complain they have no access to borough police commanders. Visitors are not provided information about their whereabouts. As the level of awareness is limited, few people know about the administrative structure of the UK police. The lack of accountability may further cause abuse of power. Some recent research and survey reports on the performance of the police and its role in the summer riots have raised important questions. Criticism of police attitudes towards communities in these reports is understandable because the police has failed to tackle crime, racism and violence across the UK. Experts have recently criticised the way the police operates in a non-professional way. Some suggest that increasing public confidence in policing requires correct identification of the community’s priorities. A recently published report warned that communities have lost confidence in the police force across the country. The issue of deteriorating law and order, prevailing criminal culture, police and community distrust and the alienation of the younger generation is complicated. Social scientists have warned that a new society of violent sectarian elements and professional criminals is taking root through the instructions of underground mafia groups in the UK. A culture of violence prevails and the values of British society are badly abused by these groups. The drug trafficking culture of Asian communities, knife culture of black criminals and extremist tendencies have created an environment of fear and harassment. Keeping in view the complaints of communities, the government has proposed election of police and crime commissioners from 2012 whereby these officers will be elected directly in every area throughout the UK. In the Justice and Security Green Paper (October 2011), it seems the Cameron government has shown a lot of commitment to safeguarding Britain’s national security. According to the paper the government has planned to produce and receive secret information on terror networks and foreign espionage. The re-launch in 2011 of Britain’s Counter Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST) to tackle violent radicalisation, extremism and militant networks, received a furious response from sectarian and extremist groups. The home office claims that part of CONTEST’s ‘Prevent’ strategy, which focuses on violent extremist tendencies, terror groups and youth radicalisation, supports vulnerable people and communities. Prevent was first introduced in 2007. This is the best and most effective counter-terrorism strategy but unfortunately it faced open hostility from extremist groups. The third published version of CONTEST reflected a new and changing terror perception and incorporated new government policies on counter-terrorism. The aim of CONTEST, according to government circles, is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests abroad. Though current debates on the 2012 Olympics security plan, the police and crime commissioners system and policing methods raised many questions, government says it is committed to better security during the 2012 Olympics. UK-based terrorist and extremist groups have established international links with the terror networks of South Asia and the Arab world. Jihadist groups clearly take the challenges posed by Prevent very seriously. While they have adopted new ways of radicalising people and propagating a hate culture, Britain’s counter-terrorism forces have failed to confine them to specific areas. These groups have already penetrated state institutions including the police and the home office. They are abusing the system and facilitating extremist and terrorist elements in obtaining British citizenship documents. The writer is the author of Civil War and the Partition of Afghanistan and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com