Police in the capital are gearing up to deal with any repeat of last summer's riots, it has emerged.
Measures being taken include training more officers in public order and making sure more vehicles are available if needed, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe said.
He told the London Assembly police and crime committee that it was accepted police did not do enough when disorder broke out in Tottenham, north London last August - trouble which spread in the following days to other areas of the city and the country.
He said: "On the Saturday night we've accepted from the beginning that we didn't have enough police available to deal with Tottenham High Road.
"We've got significantly more police officers available to deploy, we've tested that. We are also finalising the numbers of people who we think need to be specialist trained in terms of public order."
He warned that numbers available to work in the boroughs would fall while they were being riot-trained, though it should not have too serious an impact.
"Unless we train them, they are not ready," he said.
As for vehicles, he said: "We need to be more on the front foot, using vehicles, going forward, not standing in a line."
On whether "more extreme measures" might be used, such as water cannon and baton rounds, he said: "They've been there 30-odd years. If there is to be a change, that's a political decision, and we'll work with the Home Office on that. I don't think it's something the police should impose."
Effort was also being put into training officers in skills needed to comb through CCTV, as those who could do that were sometimes lost to other detective work, he said.
The Commissioner warned that there was no guarantee that riots can be quickly quelled.
He said: "Even when we've done all the things we've said we'll do, and will do, it's always very difficult on the first night. You've not got officers waiting to deal with this, they've got other things to deal with, domestic violence and so on, they are not always match fit for the first few hours.
"No matter how much training you give, it can be a challenge on the first night, but you have my commitment that that will be better."
Meanwhile, a man was cleared on Thursday of encouraging rioting or looting through a Facebook message posted during last August's disturbances.
Warren Calvert, 19, of Heysham, Lancashire, said he was "joking" when he issued an invitation on the social networking website to join in or start a riot, and never expected to be taken seriously.
A jury at Preston Crown found him not guilty of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, believing it would be committed.
Last year Jordan Sutcliffe, 21, from Northwich, Cheshire, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan 22, from Warrington, Cheshire, were jailed for four years for inciting riots on Facebook.
Both men pleaded guilty to encouraging crime in Northwich, although there were no outbreaks of disorder in the town.
Blackshaw's lawyers claimed he was joking as did Joshua Moulinie, 19, from Bream, Forest of Dean, who posted a Facebook message urging people to damage his local Spar store. Mr Moulinie escaped court action after he wrote a letter of apology to the shop owner.