Northern Ireland operation costing £50m resulted in just two arrests, but PSNI say money was well spent

Police officers from England, Scotland and Wales who were drafted into Northern Ireland in their thousands for this week's G8 summit will now be better prepared for any riots that might break out elsewhere in the UK this summer, Alistair Finlay, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, has said.

Finlay said English, Welsh and Scottish officers were more "geared up" and could be mobilised more quickly to deal with a repeat of August 2011's trouble.

"They are now better prepared, they understand the equipment, they have drilled together more … we have got them on a higher state of readiness," he said.

Finlay, head of the G8 security operation involving 8,000 officers, expressed surprise that the event, which ran on Monday and Tuesday, turned out to be the most peaceful G8 summit ever, with only two arrests amid a security operation costing more than £50m.

"That was slightly a surprise that it was as peaceful as it actually was. I would have anticipated that there would have been more protests. It was always understood that [fewer protesters] would come to Northern Ireland. We thought Belfast might have been busier but even the anti-G8 protests [in London] were smaller than we … thought they would [be]. There seems to be some change going through the whole world of protest," Finlay said.

But the chief constable of the PSNI, Matt Baggott, warned against complacency regarding the dissident Republican terror threat, even though the New IRA and other anti-ceasefire groups failed to carry out any attacks during the summit.

Speaking after a post-G8 press conference in Belfast on Wednesday, Baggott said there was intelligence to suggest the New IRA, Continuity IRA and Óghlaigh na hÉireann had planned to disrupt the summit, but that the huge security presence appeared to weigh down on the dissidents.

"I am not complacent about the dissident threat. In fact, we are continuing to look for ways to improve our counter-terrorism capability. In the last few years we have brought people to the courts and charged increasing numbers of people with terrorism. Although their numbers are relatively small, they remain dangerous.

"A single successful attack in the past few months would have disrupted the G8 summit, as it would have led to a loss of confidence. So it's really important that we don't take any of the pressure off them," he said.

The chief constable also appealed to the dissident republican leadership to rethink their attachment to their armed campaigns.

Baggott said that while it may have been a blow to the dissidents' morale that they were unable to mount any attacks around the G8, these groups would continue to try to attack the police.

"They think in terms of opportunities, and we deny them those opportunities, but ultimately the way this will be resolved will be with community pressure and the political process continuing to work," he said.