UK teams working events, sites and public order have a new statutory backdrop. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, with its first provisions commencing on 29 June and further measures to follow by regulation. Several of its public-order offences are directly relevant to security operations.
The Act creates an offence of concealing identity in a police-designated area, where protest involving criminal activity is occurring. Wearing a face covering in such an area carries a maximum of one month's imprisonment, a 1,000-pound fine, or both; designations are capped at 48 hours, and religious, health and work-related coverings are exempt. It criminalises possession of pyrotechnic articles, flares and fireworks, by protest participants, with a fine of up to 1,000 pounds. And it makes it an offence to climb specified memorials, including a set of Grade I-listed war memorials and the Churchill statue, carrying up to three months' imprisonment, a 1,000-pound fine, or both. The Act also extends stop-and-search and face-covering-removal powers to British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police in relevant settings.
Operator implication: this sharpens the line between lawful protest and criminality, and gives police clearer thresholds around designated areas. For teams providing static guarding, event security or crowd management, brief the new offences and the 48-hour designation mechanic, and align incident procedures and evidence-gathering with what officers can now act on. Coordinate early with police liaison on any site likely to attract protest, and keep staff clear of enforcement actions that are the police's to make, not the contractor's.
