PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Vigilante groups set up to protect shops and homes from rioters are hampering the policing operation, a senior officer has warned.
Reports suggested that hundreds of people turned out overnight in parts of London, including Enfield and Southall, to defend their property amid fears of further looting.
But Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh, from the Metropolitan Police, said they were not helping matters.
He told Sky News: "What I don't need is these so-called vigilantes, who appeared to have been drinking too much and taking policing resources away from what they should have been doing - which is preventing the looting."
Mr Kavanagh added: "These are small pockets of people. They're frustrated, they're angry and that's totally understandable.
"The sadness of those images through the night and the night before last will affect everyone.
"But the support that we need is to allow those officers to prevent looting and prevent crime.
"Ironically, when you see those images with no police available, the police are now having to go and do the vigilantes as well as the other problems that they've got. That needs to stop."