Croydon Police Borough Commander Dave Musker has defended the tactics used during the Croydon riots but admitted lessons needed to be learnt.

Giving evidence to Croydon’s independent riot panel on Thursday, Chief Superintendent Musker said he accepted some people felt let down by the police but felt they had done their best with the resources available.

He refuted claims West Croydon had been sacrificed to save the town centre.

He said: “If people want it see it as the smoking gun, that I should have used unsourced and unreliable evidence and forseen the public disorder – it does not stack up.”

The panel heard how intelligence had not indicated disturbances were likely to happen anywhere other than the town centre, which is why he stationed his team there.

Chief Supt Musker took control on August 8 from then Acting Borough Commander Jo Oakley at about 9.15pm.

Detective Superintendent Oakley, who is not on the senior public disorder card, had sent out a briefing at about 4pm claiming the police had an “appropriate policing plan" in place for the night of August 8.

Chief Supt Musker rejected claims this showed overconfidence, instead insisting this was just her “leadership style”.

He said she needed to show certainty as “anything else could provoke violence”.

As the looters ran amok in Croydon, some had called for water cannons, baton rounds or the army, but Chief Supt Musker said these were not options he wanted.

He said: “The military is not equipped for dealing with civil disorder of this kind.

“Water cannons were an option. Would they have helped? No.

“Baton rounds were available but I chose not to use them. There has to be a credible threat to life.”

The former Wandsworth Borough Commander said he had “searched his conscience” about why Croydon was targeted.

He said : “I have not come up with an answer that I could defend in public.”

The panel heard how Croydon had never been flagged as a potential hotspot for disorder during previous troubles.

Asked about social media, with the looters having used Twitter and Blackberry messaging to communicate, the borough commander admitted the police’s understanding of it “was not well formed”.

He added: “I am a 40-year-old bloke who struggles to sign into his email.

“Many of us have that problem “We need to get better at it [understanding social media].”