More baton rounds training at Metropolitan Police Published duration 30 November 2011

image caption There was a "level of tension" that police might not have picked up on before the riots, the report found

Scotland Yard is training more officers to use baton rounds - also known as plastic bullets - according to a police report into the August riots.

The Metropolitan Police force is also considering whether to buy water cannon to deal with any large-scale disorder. The use of CCTV with facial recognition could also be stepped up.

Extra public order powers might also be requested from the government.

The report lists 10 main findings on the disorder from 6 to 9 August.

'Level of tension'

Water cannon would cost £1.3m each, the Met said, and based on the experience of Northern Ireland three units would be needed.

During the three days of violence, looting and fires there was some criticism of how the authorities handled the situation.

Among the eight main responses in the report, the force also recommended training specialists to deal with fast-developing intelligence and "professionalising" the police use of social media.

The force said that the violence which erupted in 22 of the 32 boroughs overseen by the Met was either spontaneous or there was "a level of tension" not picked up by community engagement.

Violence began after the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan by police in Tottenham on 4 August.

The report, produced by the Met, said "intelligence-gathering systems could not cope with the scale and speed of the spread of the disorder".

It also found there were not enough officers and they did not arrive quickly enough to deal with the disorder.

Tactical options

About 3,000 officers were deployed on the first night of violence on 6 August - plus 380 public-order officers in Tottenham and the rest of Haringey borough.

By 7 August that number had risen to nearly 4,300, while about 6,000 were on the streets on 8 August.

According to the report, baton rounds were made available during the riots but they were not used due to the "agility" of the disorder and the availability of other tactical options.

The report said the Met had increased the number of officers trained to work with "Kestral" teams - officers deployed with baton rounds - and further expansion had also been considered.

The first part of the report was released on 24 October.