Staffordshire's crime czar has warned people to "think again" if they are considering getting involved in public disorder.

Community leaders have raised concerns as the one-year anniversary of riots in Hanley and Tamworth draws near.

The violent disorder followed the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport last summer.

The disorder in Hanley on 3 August saw anti-migrant protesters clash with Muslim counter-protesters throughout the day, while the Tamworth incident on 4 August involved rioters targeting the town's Holiday Inn Express.

Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams spoke of the impact on officers who were on the front line last year at Monday's Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting (28 July).

He also warned residents not to get involved in any similar incidents, following demonstrations outside a hotel in Epping, Essex, in recent days.

He said: "If anybody thinks that is the way to make a point and stepping into violence is acceptable then please think again because it will be dealt with. Concerning ourselves about disorder going forward is a matter for regular conversation.

"One thing I know is if officers are protecting people's rights to free speech and protecting them from protesters of another view, they are not in our neighbourhoods, dealing with our roads or looking after our children. They cannot be in two places at once.

"There are cost implications as well, and overtime and wellbeing. I do hope for everybody's sake that people make their concerns known in a peaceful manner."

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council member Charlotte Atkins asked: "What contingency plans have you got for the summer, given what's happening at Epping and what happened in Tamworth and Stoke last summer.

"What arrangements are you making for any public disorder that might occur?

"Hopefully your hundred more detectives in the public protection unit are perhaps focusing on these issues. What difference have they made in terms of how the public see their streets and communities being safer?"

Carol Dean, leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said: "I would like to thank you for the community work that's been done around Tamworth. Over the summer, we've had such a large presence of police at some of our events and that does give reassurance.

"One of the biggest things for me is that we're coming up to the anniversary of August 4 and the fact that there is stuff all over Facebook again. Somebody mentioned free speech but there's a difference between free speech and incitement.

"We've spoken to our inspector this weekend and we know that the police are all over it, they're looking at everything at the moment. It is about people understanding what is crime; the quick reaction last year did centre people's thoughts on the fact they shouldn't be where they were and they shouldn't have been throwing those petrol bombs and sticks.

"Everybody talks about the national issues, and some stuff on Facebook is all about the national issues, but Tamworth has its own problems about why this has arisen. You could go back to the Birmingham overspill, when the place was overrun with people in the 60s and 70s, and nobody recovered from that.

"But there's all those things in the background, there's the low wage economy, which are not necessarily very different everywhere else. It does feel at the moment like everything's a tinder box and we all need to be very aware of it."

Mr Adams said: "I share your concerns about the disorder. Last year, in Tamworth in particular, the violence was considerable and some of the worst in the country.

"We had young recruits, some only a few weeks in, and they had petrol thrown on them. It wasn't petrol bombs but it all has implications, not least traumatic stress.

"To reassure people, there has been a considerable effort in the last 12 months to identify people involved, for whatever reason they were there. There have been something in the order of 100 charges, active sentencing, 60 people already sentenced.

"Tamworth and Stoke-on-Trent have had investment from the local government department to understand, manage and improve community cohesion. It seems like that work is extremely positive.

"At the moment I'm considering trying to understand the thoughts of the other areas like ours that were affected last year, particularly reaching out to the commissioners to ask what local issues might have underlaid the disorder, as opposed to national issues.

"If we are to address this we need to address the core problem – I'm interested in the views of my colleagues in other areas affected last year as part of informing the national conversation around this."