THIS does more to reduce crime than carrying guns does!

Some of you may recall Bratton is the American who is being brought in by the Cameron conservative government in the UK to deal with the problems resulting from their terrible rioting earlier this fall.

These sources,  here  and here, on hot spot policing strongly support the statements made here by Bratton, as a type of analysis and solution to certain kinds of problems, in this case, crime. It would be fascinating to see if this technique, which is proven to reduce crime has a causal correlation to crime reduction in contrast to the non-causal correlation to crime and concealed or open carry.

For those of you who have a curiosity about the reference to hot spotting as an approach to educational achievement problems mentioned in the video clip below, you can read about that here.   For those of you who are interested in the health care reference to hot spot analysis and problem solving, referenced in this clip, you can read about that here.

From the Dylan Ratigan show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Riot-hit Reeves furniture store in Croydon resumes trading

The South London furniture store which suffered a devastating fire and was the image of the UK riots has reopened. Of course, the main store burned to the ground, but there was a smaller shop across the road where business has resumed.

Mr Reeves said: "The staff have been brilliant and the local community with their support and well wishes have really spurred us on.

Recalling the impact of the fire on the smaller store he said: "The whole front was scarred up, the windows were all broken... everything was sort of heat damaged.

"But we've all rallied around and cleaned up.

"We actually had the doors open a couple of days after the fire because we had just decided that there's an awful lot of interest and people will want to come down and have a look and we might as well open the doors and see if people want to buy things.

But customers could not get in as the area was cordoned off, he added.

The landmark store was burnt down on 8 August

Describing trading from a compact store he said: "We brought stock out of warehouses and really we just tried to make the best bits of the two shops into one shop because it is a considerably smaller area, but it does give us the opportunity to at least keep trading while we try to find out what's happening with the old site.

"Its just a brilliant spirit and they (customers) have just encompassed the whole thing by coming in and buying."

Someone has been charged with causing the store fire.

See:
Riot-hit Reeves furniture store in Croydon resumes trading

A better response for Tom...

Who asked:

"Tom, simple join the British Army and do two tours of Norn Iron."

OK, that's a start. So, is there a British Army manual that I could read? Or did you get special training for that duty?

I'm really very curious, because I would like to have a set of skills that I -- a somewhat out-of-shape but not necessarily overweight -- man could call upon that are not lethal. Signing up for a tour in the US Army is also off limits because of my age.

I was a bit flippant in my first response, but my original advice was not too far off.

As a civilian, your best bet is to:

• Try to stay out of that sort of area in the first place
• Be aware of your surroundings
• If you see an angry crowd coming down the street--go the other way!

While it may sound cowardly, it this is a more prudent course of action. First off, as a civilian you probably won't have the basic kit for dealing with riots, let alone the more specialist gear.

Basic kit would be

• Nomex coveralls, with hood as well as reinforced knee and elbow pads
• Riot helmet

You might be able to make due with motorcycle kit, but it's probably not flame resistant as is Nomex.

More specialised gear would be the perspex shield, baton, CS grenades, specialised transport (e.g snatch land rover), etcetera.

In the US, you could buy CS spray, but I am not sure of the legality of carrying it in your area. And you need a huge bottle of the stuff for crowd control.

But the military and the police have another advantage over civilians in crowd control--numbers.

I am assuming that you would be one, maybe two, at most a handful of people--not best to try to take on a large crowd without the gear in such circumstances. Snatch squads aren't that large,but they are well trained and well equipped.

And while Dan Snow caught and sat on a looter who ran past him carrying armfuls of shoes, he is a big strapping lad--a former member of the Balliol College rowing team (the rowing fraternity is pretty tall with Dan coming in at 6"5'), you are not.

Part of my reasons for writing a more in depth answer comes from having watched The Panorama episode on the August Riots. Far more frightening to me than the crowds was the burning. Seeing the fires in Tottenham where a family lost their home and Croyden where a 150-year-old furniture store burned down was particularly disturbing to me.

I will admit to PTSD from being in a petrol fire. The first thing that comes into your mind is that a tablespoon's worth of petrol fume has the equivalent explosive power to 4 sticks of dynamite. The second is "where the fuck is the fire extinguisher?" I did put out the flames, but unless you want to pack around a halon fire extinguisher you won't be prepared for such an eventuality.

Sorry, Jim.

Although some communities did stand watch to protect their property such as the Sikhs in Southall. People in Enfield, Hackney and Eltham also patrolled their areas with the police warning against vigilantism.

As for firearms.

It is alleged that a shooting was what caused the riots in the first place.

Also a gun isn't that useful in putting out a raging fire: the way a fire extinguisher would be.

Tariq Jahan's appeal for peace is what is supposed to have stopped the riots.

Draw your own conclusion.

I would also add that CCTV is proving to be quite an effective tool in catching the people responsible for these acts.

My area was fairly peaceful compared to where White Rabbit lives. The rioters broke into Hugo Boss and the Bureau de Change next to the tube station and the betting shop a bit further away.

We Brits tend to be fairly unflappable in the face of adversity though.


Although, one of my parent's friends opined the rioters should be made to do national service...

See also:
BBC News England Riots
Father of victim appeals for calm
England riots: Before-and-after images of the devastation

Another American Opinion on the UK Riots

This time from the Economist Newspaper (Yes, the Economist calls itself a newspaper). And I'm going to be lazy and copy it in full:

A visiting American's perspective on London's riots: The right to compare arms

Aug 15th 2011, 9:26 by G.I. | LONDON

TO AN American visiting London, one of the more striking aspects of last week’s riots was how few people died. Not including the police shooting death that touched off the original disturbance, five deaths have been attributed to the riots and looting. By contrast, 53 people died in the rioting that followed the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992.

At least part, if not most, of the difference is down to the fact that Americans are armed to the teeth: the criminals, the cops and the shopkeepers all have guns, whereas Britain has one of the lowest rates of gun ownership in the world. The result is a low homicide rate: just 2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2002, compared with 5.62 in America. Murders in Britain are much less likely to be committed with a gun. Its firearm murder rate, at 0.02 per 100,000, is a fraction of America’s, at 3.25. Three of the riots’ victims were run down by a car while guarding a petrol station and one died of injuries after being beaten. The fifth was a looter who is believed to have been shot by another looter.

Source: United Nations

Britons are not more law-abiding than Americans. Their rates of car theft, robbery and burglary are all higher, some substantially. But strict gun-control laws and borders that are more impervious to smuggling than, say, America's border with Canada, mean that guns are less likely to be used in crimes. That may also cut down on firefights: British police generally do not carry guns, in part because they worry less about being shot at. (Mark Duggan, the man whose death set off the original riots, was shot by a member of a special police firearms unit. Mr Duggan is believed to have had a gun but not to have fired it.)

It’s possible, as Ben Jacobs of the Boston Globe speculates, that Britain’s low level of gun homicide and high level of property crime are connected: criminals may be more likely to steal, rob or loot if they don’t fear being shot by a vigilante shopkeeper. Still, the data do seem to suggest that if you’re going to be caught up in a riot, it is better to be in London than in Los Angeles.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Mr Duggan was carrying a gun; in fact one was found nearby, not on his person. This has been corrected.

Could a Tottenham happen In the United States? And, if so where?

America’s 14 Most Ready to Riot Cities

By Chaz Valenza, OpedNews, August 11, 2011

Here’s a list of 14 large American cities that may be ready to erupt. They have been identified by sorting common social, economic and demographic data including: unemployment, education, income, crime, housing and homelessness.

Other data was also included that might indicate probable “flash points” igniting unrest. These include: cities with especially high rates of reported police misconduct, high disparity between rich and poor, city budget deficits threatening social services, high incidence of hate crime, and large differences in home values between neighborhoods.

One such statistic is a “Wealth Disparity Index” calculated as a “Gini” co-efficient. The index measures the inequality of the local wealth distribution. In this case, the closer the index number is to 1 the greater the disparity between the haves and have nots.

Should the American economy take another dive into “official recession” makes little difference if our cities and states become dysfunctional with a recovery that does not include jobs and a safety net to catch those victimized by an economic system based on fraud.

Why should the victims of economic tyranny turn to anger and action? It has been said that Americans are too self-absorbed to challenge the status quo. Even under the intolerable stress and life threatening situation of Hurricane Katrina cooler heads prevailed. For the most part, we are a patient people.

But at some point the fuse will be lit if economic relief is not forthcoming. The rationale may be factious as it was in Newark, NJ in 1967, when a rumor of police injustice sparked riots that lasted six days and nights. But when polite protests fail, as they did in London, action speaks louder than words.

As a young man said to an NBC news reporter in Tottenham: “You wouldn’t be talking to me now if we didn’t riot, would you?”

1. Detroit, MI:

The poster child for what has gone wrong with American capitalism. One way the city aims to increase revenue is to work with the state to identify businesses that have not been paying the city income tax, an initiative with the potential to generate $49.5 million over the next five years. Well, every little bit helps.

• Unemployment 21.6%
• Income per capita: $14,213
• Poverty: 36.4% of residents below the poverty line
• 56% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Percentage of single-parent households: 67.1%
• Homeless: 1,627/100,000 residents
• 3rd highest U.S. city crime score: 356.44
• High school graduation rate, public school district: 37.5%
• Deficit through FY2011: 710,000,000; per capita: $780
• 9th U.S. large city for police misconduct per capita
• 88,200 high net worth individuals

2. Miami, FL:

Here is a moderate example of economic schizophrenia at work. Commuters increase Miami’s population 37.3% every work day, then leave the business district a ghost town every evening. Foreclosure paper work clogs a Miami courthouse with no end in sight. The city faces a $50 million budget deficit for 2012.

• Unemployment 13.7%
• Homeless: 1,191/100,000 residents
• 54.8% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Children living in poverty: 43.8
• Increase in food stamp (SNAP) use from 2007: 45%
• Percentage of single-parent households: 44.4%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 35%
• Housing value disparity: 136% (std. dev. / median)
• Wealth Inequity Index: 0.494 (Miami Metro)
• Share of aggregate income going to top 5 percent of households: 24.9%
• 18th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita

3. Cleveland, OH

According to The Plain Dealer: “People on the streets of Cleveland… say they are impatient with bullish economists and bickering politicians who don’t seem to realize how little the economy has improved. They waved away questions about higher debt ceilings… because many of them wanted to vent about how much the economy stinks.”

• Poverty: 35.0% of residents below the poverty line
• Children living in poverty: 43.8%
• Income per capita: $15,583
• Percentage of single-parent households: 58.6%
• Increase in food stamp use from 2007: 25%
• Unemployment 10.7%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 18.2%
• 7th highest U.S. city crime score: 260.60

4. Memphis, TN:

“Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress.” Source: News One for Black America.

• Children living in poverty: 38.5%
• Unemployment: 10.9%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 23%
• Percent of residents receiving SNAP assistance: 25%
• Percentage of single-parent households: 50.0 %
• Residents with no health care insurance: 18.9%
• 12th Highest U.S. City Crime Score: 256.32
• Housing value disparity: 152% (std. dev. / median)
• Hate crimes per 100,000 population: 5.17

5. New Orleans, LA: (Tie)

Between 2000 and 2009, New Orleans lost more than a quarter of its residents. This decline was largely attributable to Hurricane Katrina. According to Delta Dispatches, New Orleans has rebounded in a big way since 2005. But the facts say it has a long way to go. Will the Big Easy keep its cool?

• Number 1 in homeless: 2,582/100,000 residents
• Number 1 U.S. city for police misconduct per capita
• Percentage of single-parent households: 55.0%.
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 54%
• Unemployment 9.7%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 24.2%
• 55.0% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Housing value disparity: 157% (std. dev. / median).

5. Buffalo, NY: (Tie)

Number one in hate crimes reported and ranking in the top 20 for misconduct of police officers in forces of less than 1,000, Buffalo is skating on thin ice. It has fared better than many with a relatively low unemployment rate, but poverty and disparity are taking a toll. SNAP (the new name for food stamps) recipients have increased over 20%.

• Ranked 1st in hate crimes in large U.S. cities: 11.47 per 100,000 population
• Poverty: 28.8% of residents below the poverty line
• Children in poverty: 41.6%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 22%
• 49.2% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Housing value disparity: 112% (std. dev. / median).
• Percentage of single-parent households: 56.3%.
• 18th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita – forces under 1,000 officers
• Unemployment 8.1%

6. Milwaukee, WI:

A June 2011 study from the John K. Maclver Institute, a Wisconsin-based think tank that promotes free markets, individual freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government, showed Milwaukee slid 28 spots in a national ranking of economic strength. With a school district high school graduation rate of only 31.5%, the city’s government may want to be less than limited in addressing the community’s educational needs. Other Wisconsin business notables are complaining they don’t have enough qualified applicants to fill job openings.

• Percentage of single-parent households: 52.2%.
• High school graduation rate, public school district: 31.0%
• 45.4% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Hate crimes per 100,000 population: 2.64
• Unemployment 10.4%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 33%
• Children living in poverty: 41.3%
• Per capita income: $18,290
• 20th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita

7. St. Louis, MO:

Another schizophrenic urban gas guzzling disaster where the work day affluent commuters boost the city’s population by 34.5% and then leave for their suburban oasis each night. As reported in the St. Louis Beacon: Historian Colin Gordon takes the long view when it comes to understanding how St. Louis has fared during the nation’s recent economic downturn — and his perspective isn’t pretty. “We’re now in a situation in a lot of settings — most starkly Detroit but also in cities like St. Louis — where land values in the central city have fallen off the abyss. There are properties you can’t give away,” he said. “But by the same token, some of the incentives for building out in a cornfield have been restrained both by the lack of credit and by the undermining of environmental costs. In some respects, when gas prices spiked a couple of years ago, that was at least a temporary wakeup call for the kind of sprawl that areas like this have experienced over the course of their history.”

• Top national crime score for U.S. cities: 381.62
• Housing value disparity: 124% (std. dev. / median)
• Percentage of single-parent households: 57.9%
• Percent of residents receiving SNAP assistance: 36%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 36%
• Unemployment 12.6%

8. Baltimore, MD:

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has admitted her latest proposal to balance the city’s budget by eliminating marine, helicopter, and mounted units from the police force; cutting 900 city jobs; closing 29 recreation centers; decreasing hours at 311 call centers; and end the Fourth of July firework display, is “unacceptable” and “goes too far.” But, Baltimore has other festering problems as well. What’s wrong with this picture? Baltimore’s unemployment is relatively low. Oh, I forgot. Working class jobs don’t pay very well.

• Housing value disparity: 120% (std. dev. / median)
• Percentage of single-parent households: 59.2%
• High school graduation rate, public school district: 41.5%
• Percent of residents receiving SNAP assistance: 24%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 15.2%
• City budget deficit through FY2011: $121,000,000 per capita: $190
• 15th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita
• Unemployment 7.9%

9. Atlanta, GA:

The population of Atlanta increases by 62% every workday due to commuter influx. Lot’s of homeless, an amazingly high per capita income of $36,912, and a Mecca to young southern professionals. Atlanta is a shining example of disparity and inequity on steroids. Hey, good buddy, how many hours were you parked on I-75 today?

• House value disparity: 218% (std. dev. / median)
• Percentage of single-parent households: 60.4%
• Homeless: 1,263/100,000 residents
• 3rd U.S. city for police misconduct per capita
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 34%
• Children in poverty: 48.1%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 20.5%
• Poverty: 27.8% of residents below the poverty line
• Unemployment 9.9%

10. Cincinnati, OH:

“The explosion of violence in Cincinnati–the largest urban disturbance in the US since the 1992 Los Angeles riots–revealed the deep social tensions in every American city… The April riots underscored the most basic fact of life in America: the enormous social gulf that has opened up between the wealthy elite and the vast majority of the population.” Jerry White, writing for the World Socialist Website about the roots of the riots that erupted in Cincinnati, Ohio in April of 2001, following the police killing of an unarmed black teenager, not a rumor, fact.

• Percentage of single-parent households: 55.9%
• 17th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita
• Unemployment 9.9%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 41.0%
• Children in poverty: 40.9%

11. Long Beach, CA:

“These past two years, we have been waging a war of attrition, with each ensuing year requiring additional cuts to service levels. We cannot afford to continue on this path. We must find a way to reach structural balance and further invest in our infrastructure. This year presented the most challenging fiscal and budgetary environment in my time as Mayor but has, in recent days, also provided the single most significant step to our long-term fiscal health in the form of a tentative agreement with the Police Officers’ Association that cuts pension costs and, if it were to be mirrored by our other employee groups, eliminates structural deficits by the end of FY 13 based off current projections.” From the Mayor’s Budget Recommendations, Fiscal Year 2012. Bob Foster, Mayor of Long Beach, CA.

• Wealth Inequity Index: 0.479. (Los Angeles Metro)
• Share of aggregate income going to top 5 percent of households: 23.2 percent
• 45.9% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Unemployment 11.0%
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 25.0%
• Children in poverty: 45.2%
• Residents with no health care insurance: 18.3%

12. Newark, NJ:

To close the city’s budget gap, Mayor Cory Booker is proposing a 7% tax increase in order to maintain the city’s current level of service. The mayor’s proposed increase will also reduce the city’s current budget deficit of $58 million. The tax increase will raise $18 million in additional funds. Governor Chris Christy is also attempting to close a New Jersey State budget gap of just $10.5 billion dollars.

• Percentage of single-parent households: 56.9%
• Wealth Inequity Index: 0.504 (New York Metro including North New Jersey)
• Share of aggregate income going to top 5 percent of households: 24.9 percent
• 13th U.S. city for police misconduct per capita
• Increase in food stamps (SNAP) use from 2007: 18.0%
• Per capita income: $17,396
• Residents with no health care insurance: 28.5%
• Unemployment 9.6%

13. Philadelphia, PA

A Flash mob struck Center City Philadelphia Friday night, July 29, 2011 leaving two people injured and several others robbed. Police have arrested four people in connection with the crime. Mayor Nutter has decided in impose a curfew of 9:00 PM on those under the age of 18. Businesses can also register their security cameras with the police department. Don’t panic. This isn’t the real angry hopeless commoners with torches and pitch forks, just a bunch of kids.

• Children in poverty: 35.7%
• Percentage of single-parent households: 50.1%
• 46.8% of residents spend over 35% of their income on housing
• Percent of residents receiving SNAP assistance: 26%
• Unemployment 10.2%
• Over 104,000 high net worth individuals

Chaz Valenza is writer and small business owner in New Jersey. He earned his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. His current feature film project is “Single Point Failure” an insider’s account of how the Reagan Administration caused the greatest tragedy of the space age based on Richard C. Cook’s book “Challenger Revealed.” He is a former Director of Public Information for Planned Parenthood of NYC. His website is: www.WordsWillNever.com

Source: OpED News

US-style policing in the UK? No thanks

This the title of a post in the Guardian's Political Blog:

America is a much more violent place than the UK, and its law and order settlement is not one any sensible foreigner would want to embrace.

This isn't just about guns, but the entire culture of lock 'em up and throw away the key or shoot the bastards

I have some sympathy for anyone who happens to be prime minister when urban riots break out. But they're all volunteers, and David Cameron seems to be getting into a muddle over his handling of the police and the coalition's supposed "zero tolerance" policy response to lawlessness.

We'd better get this right or we risk lurching into an American view of policing – as a smart article predicts – which has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world: more than 2 million people in prison, twice that number on probation or parole, at any one time. No thanks.

Which would you prefer to pay for prevention, or having to lock these people up?

It was that the police initially saw the riots as a public order issue, a form of political protest like last winter's student riots or the G20 protests. In consequence, they handled them warily, aware that they might be criticised for heavy-handedness, as they were – by the Guardian among others – on those occasions.

Only on Monday, too late, did they see that they were mostly dealing with opportunistic and apolitical looting.

We can get into the reason for the riots, but it seems to be desperation.

"In 2011 there is an additional consumer component and a self-destructive one. Self-destruction is more dystopian even that nihilism. Not only does it imply hopelessness, it suggests this week's rioters are cut off not just from society, but also from themselves," wrote Malkani, the author of the novel Londonistan.

That's bleak. Which makes Caldwell's conservative worldly wisdom even bleaker. British culture has always been individualistic, but has become radically anti-authoritarian and diverse over the last 50 years. The old consensus, which permitted gentle, unarmed policing, is one of the casualties of this change, he argues. Reformers have thrown out the baby of authority with the bathwater of privilege.

"And this is the tragedy. Britain has chosen a different kind of liberty, one that does not rest on shared values. That is, it has chosen a US-style liberty, and this will have to be safeguarded in an American way," he writes.

Americans fear their police – and with good reason – but have confidence in the efficacy. The fact that Duggan was carrying a gun when shot would have ended the debate about injustice in America, Caldwell claims. We are heading down that road, too.

A frightening though. The author's conclusion:

There far more people in prison in the US than in China, with four times the population, and gun violence is rampant – more than 12,000 gun-related homicides in 2007 alone. It's a wonderful country in all sorts of ways if you're not poor, very hard if you are.

But America's law and order settlement is not one any sensible foreigner would want to embrace. Sorry, Bill Bratton, I know you've done some good work and we're all keen to learn from each other. But you were starting from a very different and much, much more violent place. We don't need it here.

.

And Here is WHY so very many people think Texans like this are crazy, and dangerous...like 'W'

(larger type, emphasis mine - DG) from MSNBC.com
Once again, a lack of education in history, including Texas history; there have been plenty of riots in Texas over the years.  None of them seem to be resolved positively by shootings.

An older example:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70E12FF355D1A728DDDA90B94D1405B818CF1D3

And a more recent example, also including property damage and fire:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/01/texas.prison.riot/

An overview, of sorts, is here:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcr02
which includes these paragraphs, although it clearly doesn't cove the second half of the 20th century, or the first decade of the 21st century :

"The most common cause of riots in the first half of the twentieth century was public outrage toward prisoners. Mob threats of violence to prisoners necessitated the use of state troops on four occasions in 1900. In 1901 three lynchings by mobs took place despite the calling of state troops; in two instances the troops suppressed the mobs. At Brenham rioting broke out over the employment of a black brakeman by a railway; it was suppressed after two days. In 1902 mob violence brought on the use of state troops three times. In one instance the mob hanged a prisoner before the troops' arrival. Troops were called out three times on this account in 1903, twice in 1904, three times in 1905, and once in 1906. The Brownsville Raid^qv (1906) precipitated a serious race riot involving black soldiers. Troops were needed elsewhere in 1907 and 1908; in the latter year rioting at Slocum resulted in the killing of more than ten blacks. Other mob actions in the first decade of the century resulted from strikes at Houston in 1904 and racial tension at Ragley the same year. Riots also took place in San Antonio and Fort Worth in April and May of 1913. The Houston Riot of 1917 was started by about 150 black troops from Camp Logan, a temporary training center near the city. The riot, touched off by the arrest of a black woman, was the culmination of general uneasiness and hostility following the establishment of the camp. It resulted in the deaths of seventeen people, mostly whites; the anger of an aroused white population necessitated martial law for four days. The Longview Race Riot of 1919 also resulted in the proclamation of martial law. A strike at Galveston in 1920 produced lawlessness that required the help of the Texas National Guard. Mexia was declared in a state of anarchy because of a riot and was placed under martial law from January to March 1922. The Sherman Riot of 1930 stemmed from the arrest of a black who had assaulted a white woman; rangers were called to protect the prisoner, but a mob set fire to the courthouse and virtually seized control of the town. When troops of the Texas National Guard arrived, they were attacked by the mob, and before martial law restored order, a number of buildings were destroyed. Enforcement of oil-conservation laws in the 1930s also necessitated the use of the National Guard to suppress mob lawlessness.
The guard was also called in September 1937 to suppress mob violence at Marshall and again to quell the Beaumont Riot of 1943. In Beaumont a white mob, outraged at the assault of a white woman by a black, terrorized the black section of town. Two died and 100 homes were destroyed. In 1955 the National Guard was used to control a riot at Rusk State Hospital. In May 1967 a riot that occurred among black students at Texas Southern University in Houston resulted in the death of one policeman and the wounding of two students and two police officers. Though the immediate cause of the riot was the arrest of a student, the night-long incident was related to general racial tension. "

Both massive property damage - as in the example of the destruction of 100 homes - and racial tension appear to be factors in common with the UK rioting and the history of riots in Texas. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the other people in the room when this woman spoke up actually had a better grasp of Texas history than this dim bulb, in spite of being, presumably, mostly citizens of the UK.

Where are the guns? A Texan's take on the UK riots

Daniel Deme / EPA

Police officers patrol the streets of Camden, in north London, on Monday. An extra 10,000 officers were brought in from other parts of the country to help to quell rioting and looting that engulfed parts of the capital.

By Heather Lacy, NBC News assignment editor
LONDON - We’ve been on five-day roller-coaster here in the NBC News London bureau, what with riots and looting breaking out across the capital and the country.
We’re all wondering if the “criminality pure and simple,” as Prime Minister David Cameron put it, will pop up again, or if the uneasy calm we have now will hold.
Everyone in the newsroom has been discussing the recent violence, the worst this country has seen in three decades.  Why would people set fire to stores, cars and homes, looting, wounding, killing and destroying property as they go? Who could do this?  How did the police
fail to bring order for days?
As everyone in the newsroom debated the use of force – whether to use rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons, Tasers, even bean-bag guns –  I wondered why they were wasting their breath.
“If your cops had guns, day number 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this, it would NOT have happened!” I said at a recent meeting.
People stopped talking and looked at me.  A couple giggled. Those who know me weren’t too horrified, but others stared at me like I’d just drop-kicked a puppy.
Transplanted Texan
I’m a relatively recent London implant, having moved from Texas a few years back.  I’m surrounded mostly by Brits who are usually amused and occasionally appalled at some of my comments.
“In fact, why are we even talking about this?” I asked.  “A couple batons aren’t gonna do the trick when the rioters have Molotov cocktails, bricks and knifes, and they outnumber the police.”
When I first moved here I was surprised when I discovered that “bobbies on the beat” (cops on the street) don’t carry guns. Apparently, when the Metropolitan Police Service was founded they thought arming the officers would scare the public.  How quaint, I thought.
There is an armed contingent, the Authorised Firearms Officers, which makes up about a third of the Met’s numbers, but they don’t patrol routinely and are only called in when needed.   And getting a firearms certificate as a private citizen is very difficult, if not impossible, unless you live in the countryside.
Now, I’m not suggesting police just go out and start capping people carte blanche, but I can assure you those brave and defiant “hooded youths” (as they were described by many a British broadcaster) would not have been so brave or defiant if they had a lethal weapon pointed at them.
Yes, there’s an argument for unarmed police, and yes the British police do have an armed unit, but I’m not going to get into the minutiae. I just want to know, what’s so bad about a show of force in the form of a gun?
I mean, you don’t see anything like this kicking off in Texas, do you?

Yes.  You do. 
What an embarrassment that this person is in a news position, with such a bacground of ignorance.  Odds are she knows even less about the UK and their history, or world history generally, than what she knows of Texas.  The history of Texas is not the same as the myth of guns in Texas, or the myths of "Texas-style" law and order.

Murdoch-owned Newspaper Poll - Live Ammunition?

Larger print emphasis is mine; it is reasonable to believe that given the leaning of the tabloid, that the poll is probably skewed right.  While a smallish sampling, that gives impetus to the notion that Cameron may not be long at 10 Downing Street, or at the very least, is under extreme pressure there.

From the Sun, in the UK:

YouGov England Riot results: Majority support for water cannons

9 out of 10 British adults say police should be able to be use water cannon on rioters and one third support use of live ammunition, according to the results of a YouGov survey.
As rioting continued for a fourth night last night, a YouGov survey for The Sun has found that there is widespread support among British adults for a range of tactics to be made available to the police:
90% think the police should be able to use water cannons in the course of dealing with the rioters.
33% say police should be able to use firearms / live ammunition.77% support using the army to help deal with the situation.
57% feel David Cameron is dealing with the situation badly.85% believe either a majority or most of those taking part in the riots will go unpunished.
YouGov’s nationally representative survey of 2,534 British adults provides a look at public opinion on the unrest, rioting and looting that has spread across England in recent days.
9 out of 10 respondents (90%) thought that the police should be able to use water cannon in the course of dealing with rioters. The potential use of other tactics also proved very popular with mounted police (84%), curfews (82%), tear gas (78%), tasers (72%) and plastic bullets (65%) all attracting support from a large majority.
In addition, a third (33%) thought police should be able to use firearms / live ammunition to deal with the riots, while over three quarters (77%) supported the involvement of the army in quelling the unrest.
Public opinion is divided over how the police have dealt with the situation up until now. While a majority (52%) felt that the police were dealing with the situation either ‘very well’ or ‘fairly well’, a sizeable minority (43%) thought they were dealing with it either ‘very badly’ or ‘fairly badly’.
Politicians fared substantially less well in the eyes of the public. Just over a quarter (28%) felt Prime Minister David Cameron was dealing with the situation well, compared to a majority (57%) who felt that he was dealing with things badly.  The results for Home Secretary Teresa May and London Mayor Boris Johnson were similarly negative, with 58% and 54% respectively thinking they were dealing with the situation badly.
In the longer term, the public were sceptical that those taking part in the unrest would be punished. More than two thirds (67%) believed that a majority of those rioting will ‘probably get away with it’ while a further 18% felt that most or all would escape punishment.
Over one in five (23%) expect the riots to last until the weekend while a similar number (21%) believes that they will continue beyond then.
Joe Twyman, Director of Political and Social Research at YouGov said: “It is clear from the data that a majority of the population feels that politicians have handled the unrest badly so far. There is also significant support for making a wide range of new tactics available to the police. However, this is clearly a rapidly changing situation and we shall continue to monitor public opinion to investigate how things develop.”
Full results for the survey are available here. All figures, unless otherwise stated are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,534 adults. The data has been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole. Fieldwork was undertaken between the 8th and 9th August 2011. The survey was carried out online.