Courts could sit overnight to ensure “thugs” who “maraud our streets” are brought to justice, according to one Home Officer Minister.
Dame Diana Johnson indicated the measure could be brought in to deal with people behind the current wave of unrest.
Despite the Government recently announcing the early release of some offenders to ease prison overcrowding, Dame Diana said there is jail capacity to hand custodial sentences to those “marauding our streets”.
Asked whether courts could be forced to sit overnight to fast-track prosecutions as they did for the 2011 riots, she said the Government will do “whatever it takes” to ensure people are brought to justice.
Deputy national chair of the Police Federation, Brian Booth, told the PA news agency forces can handle the unrest in the short-term, but it will likely put further pressure on already-stretched resources.
“There is a cost to all this,” he said. “Every day this continues means a certain amount of officer hours are being taken away from other policing duties. It has a massive effect on already significant under-resourcing.”
Some areas may see a diminished police presence as a result of less robust preventative patrols because officers “can’t be in two places at once”, he said.
Scanning CCTV and other footage in incident rooms to identify suspects and deploying to the scene of disorder means fewer staff on the beat, Mr Booth warned.
Officers taken out by injuries will also deplete forces, he said, adding: “It’s truly awful. These are the images I never want to see, of colleagues being battered just for doing their job.”
The far-right has drawn widespread condemnation as the organising force behind scenes of disorder in multiple towns and cities in the wake of the killings of three young girls in Southport on Monday.
False claims had spread online that the suspect, later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Lancashire, was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.
Bricks, chairs and bottles have been pelted at officers, mosques have been attacked, shops looted and a number of community facilities across the country, including a library, torched in the violence.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said people involved in the clashes “will pay the price” and “criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets”.
There was violence on Saturday in towns and cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast which saw several police officers injured.
At least 100 arrests have been made across the country and some charges have been brought, with police warning of more to come once footage has been scoured.
Sir Keir held crisis talks with ministers on Saturday over the unrest, with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood telling colleagues “the whole justice system is ready to deliver convictions as quickly as possible”.
Further protests are planned for Sunday and more trouble is likely in the coming days, police said.
