HARROW’S top policeman praised the efforts of officers who worked up to 36 hour shifts during the riots at a meeting last night.

Officers were applauded at a meeting of the Harrow Police and Community Consultative Group (HPCCG) following speeches from Harrow’s Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Dal Babu and leader of Harrow Council’s Tory opposition, Councillor Susan Hall.

Chief Supt Babu said: “We had officers who attended the initial disorder in Tottenham and they were under attack and had bottles and bricks thrown at them.

“They worked their eight-hour shifts but some in the office worked 36 hours in a row travelling across London through the disorder.

“We took a very robust approach to individuals who turned up here and we had a dispersal order in place to send people away.

“The council were very supportive of us for which we thank them. The police officers were very hard-working and people just wanted to stay and work.”

Cllr Hall said: “We are absolutely blessed with the sergeants in this borough. It was every man to the deck when it came to the disturbances with the riots.

"People who would normally be sitting in offices put on their coats and went on the streets to keep us safe.

“We must thank Dal Babu and his team and I’m excessively proud of Harrow Police.

"If people just knew the amount of work they did, if they had been in South Harrow police station during the disturbances and they could see that officers were dead on their feet because they had done over 12-hour shifts. It was great what they did.”

Navin Shah, London assembly member for Brent and Harrow, said: “We want to thank the borough commander and the tremendous work of our local police and for keeping Harrow streets and the area safe."