Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary, also said police were too slow to mobilise after disorder broke out, meaning some violence was worse than it would otherwise have been, with the chance to thwart some of it missed.
In an official report, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said officers were too often poorly equipped in the face of violence, and some of the 300 police injured had ended up taking themselves to hospital. It warned police had failed to learn lessons from the 2011 riots.
The violence broke out in late July after the murders of three schoolgirls at a dance class in Southport were exploited with false claims about the suspect being spread online.
The HMIC report said police needed to be more robust in countering misinformation, and Cooke said that should include combatting bogus claims from politicians, including the Reform leader, Nigel Farage.
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