Police water cannon use rejected by home secretary Police will not be allowed to use water cannon on the streets of England and Wales, the home secretary has said. London Mayor Boris Johnson authorised the Metropolitan Police to buy three second-hand water cannon from German police last year at a cost of £218,000. But Theresa May said "without safeguards" water cannon had "the capacity to cause harm". She said she was concerned about the risk of injury, as well as their impact on public perceptions of the police. Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the decision. Water cannon are used in Northern Ireland, but have never been deployed in the rest of the UK. They were deployed most recently in north Belfast on Monday against Loyalist demonstrators during the annual Twelfth of July celebrations. Mayor 'disappointed' Mrs May said the decision on whether to authorise water cannon was a "serious" one and a lengthy study had been carried out to assess their safety and effectiveness, "Without safeguards they have the capacity to cause harm," she told the Commons.She said she had decided against granting a licence for a number of reasons, including concerns about the risk of injury they posed to those struck by them. She also said she "remained unconvinced" about "the operability" of the particular water cannon purchased by the Met, which she said were 25 years old. Finally, she said she was concerned about the "potential impact of water cannon on public perceptions of police legitimacy". A source close to Mr Johnson told the BBC he was "disappointed". He said the prime minister, the commissioner of the Met Police and the majority of Londoners supported the idea of having water cannon available.According to the source, Mr Johnson said the police would continue to train on the three water cannon bought last year. Okay to use them on the Irish but not on the English? The more things change the more they stay the same. ****ing Tories have no shame.
It probably has something to do with a hosepipe ban, they'll be allowed to use them later in the year.
It's not the same though, they don't need to use fresh water, personally I'd fill it with water sucked from the sewer network.
I was kidding about the hosepipe ban! I would change them so they could fire bullets/shells etc, that would teach the rioting left wing scum.
Having been hit by water cannon 'fire', I can confirm it's a painful experience. However, I shouldn't have been acting the prize **** at the time.
Not in a water cannon, no. Perhaps there are baby turtles in the water, in which case it would have some shells.
Water cannon rubber bullets should only be used as a last resort measure. Unless there's Paddies involved. Fair game they ****s.
