Protests over the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers have put police forces under “chronic pressure” when combined with other duties this summer, a senior police chief has said.
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the BBC people in leadership positions in the UK needed to think about how to “reduce and diffuse tension and not sew division”.
Senior officers are concerned about political and business leaders commenting on social media, sometimes spreading misinformation, though Mr Stephens didn’t give names.
Police say there have been 3,081 protests between the start of June and 25 August, compared with 2,942 last summer and 928 in 2023.
The number has been pushed up by campaigns against asylum hotels, sometimes attended by hundreds of protestors on both sides of the debate.
Mr Stephens said it was everybody’s responsibility, including the police, to “set the tone”, but he continued to defend the right to protest.
“We all want to live in places where we can be safe, and where we feel safe,” he said.
Police forces all over the country have been responding to protests this summer, pulling in officers from neighbourhood roles to do public order duties. Through the system of mutual aid, police forces with fewer protests have have sent reinforcements across the country to back up those under pressure.
In Epping, where protests began outside the Bell Hotel in July, hundreds of police officers have been involved, often keeping pro and anti-migrant groups separated and preventing activists getting into the hotel.
At least 30 more protests are planned this weekend.
On Tuesday, the Conservative leader of Epping Forest District Council said he would be asking campaigners demanding the closure of the Bell Hotel to halt their protests.
Councillor Chris Whitbread said in a statement: “I am approaching the other group leaders on Epping Forest District Council and other community leaders to jointly ask protesters to reflect on whether they continue with the twice-weekly local protests.
“If you choose to continue, it should be done considerately and calmly, with awareness of the impact on local residents and the local economy.
“The people of Epping are under great strain. As schools return this week, I appeal to the protest organisers to show restraint and give our families and children some much needed respite.”
Mr Stephens said the demand on policing could be reduced by better integration of refugees.
“Where there’s a lack of integration, whether that’s through accommodation or placement in local communities, to a certain extent, the model doesn’t matter. It’s the effort that we go to work together as a community that reduces the demand on policing,” he said.
Police chiefs are waiting for the government to publish plans to reform the service so it can cope better with modern challenges. They’re hoping for a radical long-term strategy.
Last year, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper argued that the co-ordinated national response to the disorder in summer 2024 in the wake of the Southport attack had demonstrated the need for more centralisation.
She announced a National Centre of Policing to bring together support services for local forces, including national IT systems, shared police helicopters and a centralised forensics service.
The Home Office has been approached for comment by the BBC.