UPDATE: Notting Hill Carnival policing operation

Final update - Tuesday 1 September

The total number of arrests as part of the Notting Hill Carnival policing operation this year has been confirmed as 636.

242 arrests took place on Sunday and 394 on Monday.

193 arrests took place on the approaches to the event, with the remainder taking place within the event footprint.

Offences included possession and supply of drugs, assaults (including assaults on emergency workers), possession of weapons, sexual offences and public order offences.

The use of live facial recognition technology was expanded this year, leading to 214 alerts, 121 arrests and 86 registered sex offenders being stopped and spoken to. Seven registered sex offenders were found to be breaching their conditions or notification requirements and were arrested.

Stop and search was used extensively as part of the proactive policing approach. It resulted in 68 weapons, including a handgun, being found.

20:45hrs update - Monday 31 August

Notting Hill Carnival is drawing to a close with the policing operation entering its final phase.

The majority of attendees have left the area but officers remain on duty to ensure those remaining can get home safely.

The two days passed largely without incident with a significant proactive policing operation ensuring the minority who posed a risk to the safety of the majority were deterred or intervened against.

There were two assaults with knives – one stabbing and one slashing – neither of which resulted in life threatening injuries.

As of 20:30hrs there had been 315 arrests on Monday, bringing the total number of arrests over the two day operation to 560. It is likely this number may rise slightly while latter arrests are processed and a further confirmatory update will be provided in the morning.

48 of the arrests on Monday followed identifications using live facial recognition. Use of the technology allowed officers to stop 43 registered sex offenders to ensure they were complying with licence conditions. Three were arrested for breaching those conditions, in addition to three arrested for breaches on Sunday.

Stop and search was used extensively with 62 weapons seized across both days, including a handgun during the afternoon on Monday.

Commander Claire Smart, Gold Commander for Notting Hill Carnival, said: “This is the second year now that we have seen a marked difference in the prevalence of serious violence at Carnival.

“This is the result of not just proactive policing and a determined effort to target our efforts on those posing the greatest risk of harm, but of a collaborative partnership approach to the delivery of the whole event.

“The progress by Notting Hill Carnival Ltd in stepping into so many of the event management and crowd safety roles previously performed by the police cannot be understated. They have delivered a challenging event well and in doing so have allowed us to focus our resources on our core role of tackling crime.”

Very sadly, we learnt earlier this afternoon that a man had died after entering a canal off Kensal Road.

At around 15:19hrs police officers on duty as part of the Carnival policing operation attempted to stop the man, believed to be in his 20s, in the vicinity of Harrow Road as he approached the event. He fled on foot with officers in pursuit.

A short time later, he entered the water in the vicinity of Meanwhile Gardens.

Officers and members of the public went in after him and pulled him from the water. It was quickly apparent that the man required medical attention and officers immediately started CPR.

Paramedics were called and on arrival, continued treatment at the canal side before taking the man to a central London hospital by ambulance.

Despite the very best efforts of all involved, he was pronounced dead a short time later at 16:43hrs.

Urgent enquiries are ongoing to locate and inform his next of kin.

Commander Smart said: “This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the loved ones of the man who has lost his life.

“Any death following contact with the police is passed to the Independent Office for Police Conduct so the circumstances can be fully investigated. I would encourage everyone to avoid speculation while this work takes place.

“I acknowledge the efforts of the officers and members of the public who entered the canal to rescue this man. I know they will be devastated that his life couldn’t ultimately be saved.”

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11:00hrs update - Monday 31 August

The updated arrest figure for the first full day of the Carnival policing operation is 243.

97 took place on the approaches to Carnival and the remainder within the event footprint itself.

61 arrests were as a result of live facial recognition identifications.

The next update will be provided at 20:00hrs

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20:00hrs update – Sunday 30 August

The policing operation for the first full day of Notting Hill Carnival has ensured that the vast majority of people who attended were able to do so safely.

While officers responded to a number of incidents as would be anticipated at event of this scale, the mood has been overwhelmingly positive and celebratory.

As of 19:45hrs, there had been 169 arrests for offences including possession of drugs, possession of weapons, assaults (including assaults on emergency workers) and sexual offences.

Of the total arrests, the majority took place within the event perimeter with 27 on the approaches to the event.

29 arrests were as a result of identifications using live facial recognition (LFR). The increased use of LFR also allowed officers to identify 26 registered sex offenders who were all spoken to by officers to ensure they were complying with any conditions they were subject to. Three were arrested for breaching those conditions.

Officers responded to two knife assaults – a slashing to the leg and a slashing to the hand – neither of which resulted in life changing or life threatening injuries.

Commander Claire Smart, who is in charge of the policing operation, said: “We have been working closely with Notting Hill Carnival Ltd and other partners for many months ahead of this weekend’s event.

“The organisers have stepped forward significantly across the event, including crowd management, and we have seen the positive progress today. While we have seen a significant number of arrests and interventions by officers, the result of that proactive approach is a welcome reduction in the levels of serious violence seen at the event in previous years.

“Nobody involved in the delivery of the event is complacent, however. There are still many officers deployed across the footprint to ensure crowds disperse safely. We will have officers on duty through the night and tomorrow we will go again to ensure we can continue to tackle the minority who want to come to Carnival to spoil the celebration for the majority.”

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Press release: Friday 28 August

More than 7,000 officers will be deployed to west London over the August Bank Holiday weekend as the Met prepares to police Notting Hill Carnival.

Carnival is one of London's most significant cultural events and, in its 60th anniversary year, remains a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture, community and heritage.

It attracts millions of people from across London, the UK and beyond, the majority of whom come solely with the intention of enjoying themselves.

The Met's role is to ensure they can do so safely by relentlessly pursuing the small minority who come intending to do harm.

Commander Claire Smart, Gold Commander for Notting Hill Carnival this year, said:

"This year marks an important milestone as Notting Hill Carnival celebrates its 60th anniversary. It remains one of London's most significant cultural events and something that means a great deal to many of the communities we serve.

"The vast majority of people who attend Carnival come to celebrate, enjoy themselves and be part of something unique. Our job is to help make sure they can do that safely.

"An event of this size inevitably brings challenges. Preventing serious violence, protecting women and girls and supporting the event organisers as they work to ensure crowd safety remain key areas of focus. We have worked closely with organisers and partners for many months, and significant improvements have been made, particularly around stewarding and crowd management.

"We have also strengthened our plans to target those who come intending to commit violence or engage in other criminality. We will use intelligence-led tactics including stop and search, as well as the increased deployment of live facial recognition cameras, to identify offenders, prevent harm and intervene early wherever possible.

"Last year we saw encouraging progress, including a reduction in serious violence. We want to build on that progress this year while continuing to support Carnival as the vibrant celebration of culture, community and heritage that it has been for six decades.

"Our message is simple: come and enjoy Carnival, look after one another, respect the event, the communities hosting it and the police officers, stewards and other emergency services working to keep people safe. Help us ensure everyone can enjoy a safe and successful weekend. But if you’re coming to commit crime, to target others or to engage in violence – stay away or know that we will be work relentlessly to identify you and take action.”

The proactive policing approach begins many weeks before Carnival with intelligence-led enforcement activity aimed at identifying and disrupting those most likely to be involved in violence and other criminality.

We are focused on preventing harm before it reaches the streets of west London and we’ve done this by arresting and charging offenders where we have been able to. Where charges weren’t possible, we’ve imposed bail conditions banning those who pose the biggest risk from attending Carnival – more than 330 people are now subject to such conditions.

We’ve also taken weapons off the streets that could have been used here this weekend, including a seizure of 66 zombie knives in north east London and 10 zombie knives, 30 flick knives and a machete in east London.

On Wednesday morning, Met officers worked with officers from Greater Manchester Police to carry out raids on multiple London addresses, arresting seven people on suspicion of robbery. It is alleged that they’re part of a gang that targets music events and festivals to commit serious offences. Information suggests they have previously targeted Carnival and may have had plans to do so again.

We have also worked with the Probation Service to ensure that registered sex offenders who we believe are likely to attend public events have conditions attached to their licences preventing them from attending Carnival.

Officers have been proactively visiting businesses (including hotels, pubs/restaurants, fast food outlets, phone and vape shops, supermarkets etc) in the surrounding areas to raise awareness of the risk of child sexual exploitation and trafficking, advising on the warning signs to look out for and what actions to take. In the Westminster area alone, more than 90 businesses were visited.

Our focus on those who pose the greatest risk continues this weekend and includes the use of targeted stop and search. An order under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 will be in place for the duration of the event, providing officers with additional search powers to find weapons and take them off the streets.

This activity is backed by the increased use of live facial recognition technology which last year identified 98 people leading to 61 arrests and the opportunity for officers to stop and speak to 30 registered sex offenders. Additional cameras will be deployed this year at Carnival and on the approaches.

We saw a positive public response to the greater sense of safety created by the proactive policing operation last year which is progress we intend to build on in 2026.

Additional funding secured by Notting Hill Carnival Ltd is supporting enhanced stewarding, crowd management arrangements and communications infrastructure to help improve safety across the event footprint. It is a welcome development which we hope will allow police officers to spend more time focused on their core role of preventing crime, protecting the public and responding to incidents rather than carrying out non-policing functions.

In delivering our policing objectives, we are grateful to be working alongside the British Transport Police who will be ensuring the safety of attendees coming to and from the event on the rail network, and for the support of the City of London Police whose officers will be deployed alongside Met officers throughout the weekend.

Chief Superintendent Dominique Ioannou, British Transport Police (BTP), said:

"We're proud to be working alongside our policing and transport partners once again to help keep people safe as they travel to and from Notting Hill Carnival, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary.

“We know London's transport network will be exceptionally busy throughout the weekend, and we have a comprehensive policing plan in place, including specialist resources and highly visible patrols who will be working across the network to help ensure people can focus on enjoying the event.

“We want everyone attending Carnival to enjoy themselves, look out for one another, and treat fellow passengers and transport staff with respect. We also encourage the public to remain vigilant while travelling and to report anything that doesn't feel right. Speak to a police officer or member of staff, or you can text us discreetly on 61016."

Notting Hill Carnival 2025 key policing outcomes:

528 arrests across the two main days of Carnival.

61 arrests resulting from Live Facial Recognition deployments.

30 registered sex offenders identified and checked through LFR activity.

Four reported stabbing/slashing incidents, none resulting in life-threatening injuries.

55 arrests for assaults on police officers. Two officers sustained injuries requiring hospital treatment.

167 arrests for drug offences.

50 arrests for possession of offensive weapons.