Police state or the state of policing

[tonyh29]

The children were taken by their mother to the protest over plans for a new coal-fired power station.

more to the point they should be throwing charges at the mother for taking her children to a protest , they are children and shouldn't be subjected to the whims of an outraged mother

The twins, referred to as E and T ....

were they allowed to phone home though?

hang your head in shame Jon

[Undesirable]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r4091/The_Big_Questions_Series_3_Episode_8/

There's a bit about 21.34 in to this when the chap introduces a bloke from the Independent Working Class Association and he talks about police informants who operate in an area of Oxford. It's interesting to hear that these informants are actually dealing crack and heroin to people in the area, are they informing the police on the next big al-qaeda plot or plans by the kremlin to announce a secret invasion of the area?! What's so important that the police decide to let them deal heroin in the area?

[wiganvillain]

Unlicensed Merseyside Police drone grounded

Police on Merseyside have had to ground their new drone over concerns it was being used illegally without a licence.

Merseyside Police said they had been unaware they needed a licence to fly the remote control helicopter, which is fitted with CCTV.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it needed to be consulted over any use of the drones, that can fly up to 400ft and reach speeds of 30mph.

The force's drone was used last week to catch a car thief in thick undergrowth.

All unmanned aircraft, not just ones that weigh 15lb (7kg) or more, now have to be licensed to conduct aerial surveillance work after the law changed at the start of the year.

They need CAA permission to fly within 164ft (50m) of people and within 492ft (150m) of buildings.

The CAA said any breach in regulations, which came into force on 1 January 2010, would be "treated seriously".

A Merseyside Police spokesman said: "Since the force has known of the change in regulations all Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate licence has been granted."

He added that the CAA had been invited to inspect the drone and see how they used it.

Thermal image

The air space regulator confirmed it was investigating the use of the drone by Merseyside Police and the force had stopped all drone operations.

A CAA spokesman said it had the powers to fine those who operated illegally, but said the investigation with the Merseyside force was only in its early stages.

...more on link

Jeeeeez

Scousers breaking the law, now theres a thing

[snowychap]

Met police recruits should work for free in first year, says report

Scotland Yard is considering an overhaul of police recruitment to save millions a year in training costs.

Under the proposals, future police recruits in London would need to work as volunteer special constables for at least a year before they could apply to become full-time paid Met officers.

The move could end the tradition of tutoring new recruits at the world-renowned Hendon Police College.

A report will go to the Metropolitan Police Authority next week saying the new scheme could save more than £12 million a year by 2012.

The study adds that long-term savings could be even greater because Hendon would no longer be required and the site could generate “significant capital” if sold for development.

However, rank and file police leaders criticised the proposals.

Peter Smyth, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “I would be cautious about accepting this as the only way that we recruit.

“My concern is that if people are told they have to do a year's work without pay then we could lose some very good candidates. If a talented student is leaving university with a £20,000 debt then he may not wish to choose to do voluntary work for a year or so before he starts paying off his debt.” He added: “I can see the benefits though, it makes financial sense and money is tight.”

Other critics say the proposed training arrangements could lead to accusations of policing on the cheap.

However, Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse said: “If you want to become a police officer this shows your commitment… They will do the same training but a lot of it is on the job.”

The Met has a waiting list of thousands of applicants and has frozen recruitment. Many people are postponing leaving the force because of the recession.

Special constables, who spend a minimum of 300 hours a year on patrol, currently get 23 days basic training. Under the new scheme they would have to take a course in policing and the law as well as in patrol work. If they are recruited as paid officers, they would undergo a further 15-week course. At present, new recruits undergo a 25-week course at Hendon.

:shock:

[Gringo]

Tinfoil: Sparkbrook under surveillance

Surveillance cameras in Birmingham track Muslims' every move

About 150 car numberplate recognition cameras installed in two Muslim areas, paid for by government anti-terrorism fund

Counterterrorism police have targeted hundreds of surveillance cameras on two Muslim areas of Birmingham, enabling them to track the precise movements of people entering and leaving the neighbourhoods.

The project has principally been sold to locals as an attempt to combat antisocial behaviour, vehicle crime and drug dealing in the area. But the cameras have been paid for by a £3m grant from a government fund, the Terrorism and Allied Matters Fund, which is administered by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

About 150 automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras have been installed in Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook in recent months. Birmingham's two predominantly Muslim suburbs will be covered by three times more ANPR cameras than are used to monitor the entire city centre. They include about 40 cameras classed as "covert", meaning they have been concealed from public view.

The funding arrangement was not made clear to the handful of councillors who were briefed that the cameras would appear in their area. Instead, they were told only that the money had come from the Home Office. "I raised my concern then: is this really about spying?" said Salma Yaqoob, a member of the Respect party and councillor for Sparkbrook.

"The terrorism aspect was certainly not emphasised in that meeting. In fact it was me having to be portrayed as the awkward squad, or even paranoid, for even raising the issue of whether this was really about counterterrorism. They were very much saying, 'No, this is about burglary and crime.'"

The criteria for TAM funds state clearly that a police force must prove a project will "deter or prevent terrorism or help to prosecute those responsible".

Police sources said the initiative, code-named Project Champion, is the first of its kind in the UK that seeks to monitor a population seen as "at risk" of extremism.

When the cameras become operative, residents will not be able to drive into or leave the two neighbourhoods without their movements being tracked.

Officials maintain the cameras will prove useful for tackling a whole range crime. The areas were ringfenced for intense surveillance in 2007 after a police investigation into a suspected plot to kidnap and kill a British soldier in the area.

The Safer Birmingham Partnership, a joint initiative between police and the local authority which will run the cameras, expressed "regret" there had not been fuller consultation. Senior SBP officials said they only became aware that the cameras were paid for by counterterrorism funds as a result of Guardian inquiries.

Jackie Russell, the director of the partnership, said: "Just because the funding has an interest in counterterrorism doesn't mean that for us, that is our focus. For us, it is about community safety."

Steve Jolly, a local activist leading a campaign to have the cameras removed, called on the deputy prime minister to intervene: "Nick Clegg has made a real point of emphatically drawing attention to the surveillance society and promising to stop unnecessary infringements of privacy," he said. "I think we should hold him to his word, and say, 'Look at what is happening in Birmingham – are you going to allow it to go ahead?'"

[Gringo]

Steve Jolly, a local activist leading a campaign to have the cameras removed, called on the deputy prime minister to intervene: "Nick Clegg has made a real point of emphatically drawing attention to the surveillance society and promising to stop unnecessary infringements of privacy," he said. "I think we should hold him to his word, and say, 'Look at what is happening in Birmingham – are you going to allow it to go ahead?'"

Well someone said something as the cameras have been deactivated before they were turned on. So some progress. However the coallition still need to have a word the police and how they handle the terrorist threat; wasting money following pensioners around probably isn't the most effective use of resources.

Tinfoil: Movements of pensioner amateur artist monitored

Peace campaigner, 85, classified by police as 'domestic extremist'

For John Catt, protest has never been about chaining himself to a railing or blocking a road in an act of civil disobedience. The 85-year-old peace campaigner's far milder form of dissent typically involves turning up at a demonstration with his daughter, Linda, taking out his sketch pad and drawing the scene.

However this, it seems, has been enough for police to classify Catt and his 50-year-old daughter "domestic extremists", put their personal information on a clandestine national database and record their political activities in minute detail.

Secret files have revealed how police have systematically documented their political activities, undermining official claims that only hardcore activists were placed under surveillance.

......

Anton Setchell, who is national co-ordinator for domestic extremism for the Association of Chief Police Officers and is responsible for the NPOIU database, said most campaigners would never be considered domestic extremists.

A while back on this forum, some of the supporters of these extreme measures related how the cameras and number plate recognition systems could/would not be used to track individuals and the moaners needed thicker tin foil hats....

However, information about the Catts has been transferred to the Police National Computer in Hendon and in July 2005, they were stopped by police under the Terrorism Act after driving into the east London to help a family member move house. They later discovered police had placed a marker against their car registration on the database, triggering an alert – "of interest to public order unit, Sussex police" – each time they drove beneath an automatic number plate reading camera.

The Catts said they were particularly shocked to discover that they had been tracked for two days in Manchester in 2008, during the Labour party conference, while their involvement in events only fleetingly connected to protest activity was recorded. "At 1020 hours ... seen at Lobby point on Peter Street were two anti-war protesters from Brighton, John Catt and Linda Catt", reads the entry.

[snowychap]

ASA watchdog bans 'offensive' anti-terror hotline radio advert

Britain's eccentrics, recluses and misanthropes, you can relax. Ignoring neighbours and keeping your curtains permanently shut to the world outside might not win you many friends, but you're no longer likely to be denounced as a possible terrorist.

A radio advert that urged listeners to consider calling the police's anti-terrorist hotline if they had suspicions about local people who avoided company, kept their windows covered and eschewed bank cards for cash has been banned for potentially causing "serious offence".

The campaign by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), broadcast on the TalkSport radio station, could upset those "who might identify with the behaviours referred to in the ad", the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled.

The brief message, billed as "brought to you by TalkSport and the anti-terrorist hotline", urged the public to call if they spotted any apparent patterns of unusual behaviour. It gave seemingly everyday examples: "The man at the end of the street doesn't talk to his neighbours much, because he likes to keep himself to himself. He pays with cash because he doesn't have a bank card, and he keeps his curtains closed because his house is on a bus route. This may mean nothing, but together it could all add up to you having suspicions."

The advert attracted 18 complaints from listeners who considered it offensive to encourage the reporting of those doing nothing illegal, or who thought it could cause harassment or victimisation.

The ASA ruled that the advert – which can still be heard on the Metropolitan police website – should not be broadcast again in its current form.

Acpo apologised to those offended. It said: "The aim of the series of adverts was to alert the public to a range of behaviours that individually could mean nothing but taken together may be construed as suspicious and might be an indication of terrorist activity. This advert was based on trends identified by police and specific circumstances which had been amongst evidence given in court at terrorism trials."

The news is less good for free-spirited internet buffs with a sentimental streak, after the ASA said another advert in the same series could be broadcast again. This begins: "The man two desks down from you at work looks at online aerial photos, because he's thinking of moving house. He rents three lockups, full of his mother's things he just can't throw out. He paid for a flight with cash, but that's because he's a spontaneous kind of guy ... "

[snowychap]

This government = that government = government

Home Office bans Bradford marches

Home Secretary Theresa May has authorised a blanket ban on marches in Bradford on the day of a planned protest by a right-wing campaign group.

The English Defence League (EDL) had intended to demonstrate in Bradford on Saturday 28 August.

Unite Against Fascism had planned a protest in the city on the same day.

...more on link

[bickster]

I think we might just have pissed off the police force in merseyside tonight. The company had a meeting with local plod because we're sick of all the runners being done from cabs. Plod turned up as a bit of showing willing to local businesses type thing. They left shitting themselves. We've collated all the runners from our cabs in the last 3 months and the number of incidents is 850, thats 850 separate crimes that will be largely unsolved, push the local crime figures upwards and the solved crime figures downwards by very significant margins… be interesting to see how much support we get now.

[snowychap]

Protect police from lawsuits, says Met chief

Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, has privately lobbied the home secretary to make it harder for people to take legal action against his force, the Guardian has learned.

Critics say the plans amount to an attempt by the police to put themselves beyond the rule of law and undermine constitutional safeguards against abuses of power. The Met's chief says money is being wasted on speculative claims, with lawyers gaining large fees that would be better spent fighting crime.

The proposals are contained in appendices to a letter marked "confidential" and sent to Theresa May by Stephenson, who is Britain's most senior police officer, on 22 June. In the documents, released after inquiries by the Guardian, he suggests:

• Making it harder for people to sue the police for damages in civil actions. These usually involve allegations of brutality or wrongful arrest.

• Loading higher costs on to officers and other staff suing police forces at employment tribunals. These cases include claims of discrimination and unfair treatment.

• Charging the public a fee for freedom of information requests. The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to help citizens hold public bodies to account.

Last night, Stephenson's proposals were opposed by an alliance of human rights lawyers and civil liberties groups. The main body representing rank and file police officers attacked the employment tribunal plans. The government is considering various ideas to shake up policing, and the proposals are being considered by ministers and their officials.

Stephenson sets out a list of ideas to cut costs and free policing from what he sees as excessive bureaucracy. He says civil actions against his force generate money for lawyers, and drain police budgets.

He writes: "We believe there needs to be a radical shakeup of the system; currently for every pound paid out in compensation, up to £10 or sometimes more has to be paid out in legal costs to the claimants' lawyers.

"One of the key aspects is that the average settlements are well under £10,000 and most under £5,000, in other words these are not major areas of police misconduct with long-lasting consequences but often technical breaches."

Solicitor Louise Christian denounced the suggestion: "It's clearly an attempt by the police to escape the rule of law. When access to justice is denied, the principle of the rule of law is damaged. The rich and powerful can always go to court, it's people without means who can't."

James Welch, legal director of the civil rights group Liberty, said: "The ability to challenge police misconduct in court is a vital constitutional safeguard against abuse of power. Under current rules, if you lose a case in the civil courts you can expect to be ordered to pay your successful opponent's legal costs.

"A service bound to uphold the rule of law should not attempt to carve out an exception for itself."

Stephenson also writes that police are forced to waste money and time defending employment tribunal claims by officers or staff who then drop them, with no financial risk to the claimant: "As you will be aware, currently there are no cost disincentives for claimants lodging speculative employment tribunal claims which are withdrawn after considerable public resources have been expended in order to respond to such claims.

"We propose that a fee for issuing claims could be introduced and the grounds upon which costs can be made widened to meet these concerns."

Stephenson continues: "Similarly, there is currently no incentive for claimants to accept early offers of settlement and substantial cost could be saved if claimants were put on risk as to costs from the time that such an offer is made."

Paul McKeever, chief of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "I'm not aware of speculative claims being made. Going to an employment tribunal is the last resort people take after being frustrated by the system. Nobody wants to go to an employment tribunal – it's a horrible process to go through."

An employment solicitor, Makbool Javaid, who has defended the police against claims and has also sued forces, said: "You can bring a claim at an employment tribunal and it costs you nothing at all … Employers, not just the police, say it encourages a have-a-go culture."

Stephenson also urged that the home secretary introduce fees for freedom of information requests. In 2009-10 the force received 3,373 such requests, which it says takes time and personnel to process. The commissioner writes: "We welcome the recent government commitment to review the application of FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] and would encourage you to consider introducing a fee (as there is for Data Protection Act requests) to bring it into line with the Data Protection Act."

Releasing the documents, Scotland Yard declined to provide the commissioner's letter to May, but did release Stephenson's appendices to the letter, in which he set out his concerns and proposals.

Maurice Frankel, chair of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said the plan would help police hide from scrutiny and cost the taxpayer more money: "The intention would be to discourage people making requests. The effect would be to shield the police from many of the requests they get."

A Met source said the government was considering Stephenson's proposals as part of its plan to reform policing in an era of cuts expected to be around 25%.

Last night, the Home Office said: The home secretary enjoys a good relationship with Sir Paul Stephenson. It is usual for him to write to her with his opinions and the home secretary always considers them carefully."

The Metropolitan police authority, which oversees the force, did not return calls for comment.

[Awol]

^ The Met are taking the piss there.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

I think we might just have pissed off the police force in merseyside tonight. The company had a meeting with local plod because we're sick of all the runners being done from cabs. Plod turned up as a bit of showing willing to local businesses type thing. They left shitting themselves. We've collated all the runners from our cabs in the last 3 months and the number of incidents is 850, thats 850 separate crimes that will be largely unsolved, push the local crime figures upwards and the solved crime figures downwards by very significant margins… be interesting to see how much support we get now.

That a huge amount of crime.

If it is that bad then the easy way to solve is get some plod in taxi's with some web cams in so you can maybe catch them as they run off or at the very least get a picture of the offender. (Entrapment ?)

Also, making a big thing out of each one, getting a crime number etc so it pushes the crime level up. In fact report everything crime wise this way. If it is many cab companies then why not employ 1 person to collect and inform the Police so you all split the costs but make sure the Police get swamped with crimes. You have 65 per week so that is a full time job for someone to do properly.

Just thinking out loud really.

[snowychap]

^ The Met are taking the piss there.

Indeed but how seriously might his suggestions be taken and spoken about under the banner of 'cuts'?

I wouldn't be surprised if the one bit that was run with was employment tribunals. I think the following might be the most telling comment and the one that might be (incorrectly, in my view) looked at by the government most closely:

An employment solicitor, Makbool Javaid, who has defended the police against claims and has also sued forces, said: "You can bring a claim at an employment tribunal and it costs you nothing at all … Employers, not just the police, say it encourages a have-a-go culture."

[snowychap]

- We will end the storage of internet and email records without good reason

Plan to store Britons' phone and internet data revived

The government is to revive a plan to store every email, webpage visit and phone call made in the UK, a move that goes against a pledge made by the Liberal Democrats ahead of the election.

The interception modernisation programme, proposed under Labour, would require internet service providers to retain data about how people have used the internet, and for phone networks to record details about phone calls, for an unspecified period.

The government says police and security services would be able to access that data if they could demonstrate it was to prevent a "terror-related" crime.

The revival of the programme is buried in the strategic defence and security review, which was published yesterday. The review says the programme is required to "maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do, to protect the public".

Ahead of the election, the Lib Dems said they would "end the storage of internet and email records without good reason", a pledge which appears in the coalition agreement

The review says communications data provides evidence in court, and has played a role in "every major security service counterterrorism operation, and in 95% of all serious organised crime investigations".

It says: "We will introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework … We will put in place the necessary regulations and safeguards to ensure that our response to this technology challenge is compatible with the government's approach to information storage and civil liberties."

The Home Office confirmed today it would introduce legislation, but said no timetable or estimate of costs had yet been set.

The cost of the programme has been estimated at a minimum of £2bn by the London School of Economics, in a paper published last year. The government had previously declined to respond to Freedom of Information queries about the project.

Guy Herbert, of the No2ID group, which opposed ID cards, said: "It is disappointing that the new ministers seem to be continuing their predecessors' tradition of credulousness."

Isabella Sankey, of Liberty, told the Telegraph: "Any move to amass more of our sensitive data and increase powers for processing would amount to a significant U-turn."

[Undesirable]

I can see the list of "domestic extremists" rocketing if this goes ahead, they'll probably start classifying anyone who visits the Unite website as a potential terrorist!

[Gringo]

Grauinad"]Inquiry after police filmed hitting anti-fascist protester

An investigation is under way after a police officer was filmed hitting an anti-fascist demonstrator in the face during a far-right rally.

Alan Clough, 63, from Radcliffe, Bury, was protesting against the English Defence League (EDL) rally in Bolton in March when he was struck, fell to the ground and was subsequently arrested.

He had been due to stand trial at Bolton magistrates' court on Wednesday accused of a charge of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.

But the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case 24 hours before it was due to go ahead after viewing footage from the rally, filmed by Granada TV.

It shows police in high visibility jackets pushing back crowds of protesters before a skirmish breaks out, with riot police and mounted officers involved.

Batons are drawn and Clough is punched by an officer in riot gear who is lashing out at demonstrators. He is then dragged away and arrested.

The campaigning group justice4bolton claims police used heavy-handed tactics on the day. They say the footage shows Clough being pushed by police officers and struck on the head with a baton before he was pushed backwards to the ground and arrested.

Justice4bolton said it has received an overwhelming number of reports claiming violent behaviour on the part of police at the rally.

[snowychap]

Third undercover police spy unmasked as scale of network emerges

The unprecedented scale of undercover operations used by police to monitor Britain's political protest movements was laid bare last night after a third police spy was identified by the Guardian.

News of the existence of the 44-year-old male officer comes as regulators prepare two separate official inquiries into the activities of this hitherto secret police surveillance network.

The latest officer, whose identity has been withheld amid fears for his safety in other criminal operations, worked for four years undercover with an anarchist group in Cardiff.

Last night a former girlfriend and fellow activist said she felt "colossally betrayed" by "Officer B". The 29-year-old, who had a relationship with him for three months in the summer of 2008 while he was working undercover, said: "I was doing nothing wrong, I was not breaking the law at all. So for him to come along and lie to us and get that deep into our lives was a colossal, colossal betrayal."

The woman, who did not want to be named, said "Officer B" arrived in Cardiff in 2005, becoming a key member of the 20-strong Anarchist network in the city and "one of her best friends". They had known each for three years before their relationship and she said she did not suspect his true identity until after he left Cardiff in October 2009, claiming he had been offered a job as a gardener on Corfu.

According to the woman Officer B's flat was very empty, with no pictures of friends or family and he rarely talked about his past. "He always said he could not tell his family or friends about us because of the age difference ... if it had been anyone else I would have thought that was strange, but because [he] had been such a good friend for so long it really did not enter my mind that he was anything but a stand-up honest man."

Before he left for Corfu he held a goodbye dinner. His former girlfriend said she kept in touch with him for about a month via email, text message and the occasional postcard. Then the contact dried up.

"At first friends started messaging him asking if he was all right, then when there was no response, a few messaged him to say they were worried he was a spy, but we never heard anything."

The woman said that the experience had rocked her confidence and made her suspicious of other campaigners.

"I am incredibly, incredibly angry," she said. "Obviously to do that to anybody is pretty low, but to do that to someone who trusted you and cared about you and did their best to look after you is just unspeakable. I cannot imagine the kind of person who would lie to someone they were having a relationship with for that long and that seriously ... I strongly suspect that he felt very bad about what he was doing, but that is not an excuse."

The latest developments came as the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced it was widening its inquiry to include the controversy surrounding PC Mark Kennedy, who was the first officer unmasked by the Guardian and who also had sexual relations while undercover.

It is understood a second inquiry is to be launched by Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary on Monday into whether the undercover surveillance was disproportionate.

Last night it was reported that the trial of six campaigners accused of trying to shutdown a power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar collapsed because police had withheld secret recordings featuring Kennedy and the activists.

The Times said the Crown Prosecution Service abandoned the trial when it was informed that Nottinghamshire police had suppressed tapes that "fatally undermined the case against the protesters".

More details on the scale of Kennedy's key role in protest movements across Europe emerged yesterday, with allegations that he acted as an agent provocateur in Ireland, Germany and Iceland. It was also revealed that the second undercover agent – "Officer A" – was arrested for glueing herself to the Department for Transport during a protest against Heathrow's expansion in February 2008.

In a twist that will further unnerve senior police officers, it emerged that Kennedy has asked the public relations agent Max Clifford to sell his story.

[Gringo]

The Times said the Crown Prosecution Service abandoned the trial when it was informed that Nottinghamshire police had suppressed tapes that "fatally undermined the case against the protesters".

Just a tad disappointing isn't it.

[blandy]

Political policing, not law and order policing. Well I never #3741

[snowychap]

Political policing, not law and order policing. Well I never #3741

Are the police scorpions?