Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Saturday June 1, 2002

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,725733,00.html

The Guardian

Policing the Notting Hill carnival cost a record £5.6m last year, more than twice the amount spent on the anti-capitalist May Day demonstrations in London four months earlier, it was revealed yesterday.

Scotland Yard commissioner, Sir John Stevens, gave the details in a report to the finance, planning and best value committee of the Metropolitan police authority.

Concern over the rising cost of the carnival led the police to estimate last year's event would cost £4m. The final bill was higher because of the Met's determination to prevent the violence and murders that marred the 2000 event.

The force paid for 80 extra CCTV cameras and hand-held metal detectors, to help officers identify people carrying guns and knives. Crime was cut by a quarter.

According to the report, 10,000 officers were deployed over the two days, 1,500 more than the year before. A breakdown showed that £2.5m was spent on normal policing and civil staff pay, £2.1m on overtime, and £1.1m on other costs before, during and after the carnival.

In comparison, policing the funeral of the Queen Mother involved 7,955 officers and 1,302 civil staff between March 31 and April 9, the report said. An early estimate for the cost of the event is £4.1m.

Other major occasions were far less expensive.

The cost of the Trooping the Colour celebrations last year was £1.1m, and the state opening of parliament was £384,000. Policing New Year's Eve cost the Met £3.1m.

Eric Ollerenshaw, leader of the Conservatives on the London assembly, called for "more rational" financing of the carnival.

"I was quite staggered by the amount, and also the amount of police that had to be drafted in from other areas. I am not against carnival but I want a more rational system of dealing with it."