Met G20 tactics "fundamentally wrong" - MPA motion

A motion has been tabled for the agenda of the next public meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority on the 30th May, 10am at City Hall.

The motion recognizes that policing the G20 demonstration on the 1st April was:

"difficult, but believes that the strategy and tactics adopted by the Metropolitan Police were fundamentally wrong."

The motion outlines two key criteria which the current review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) needs to meet in order to restore confidence in the police:

"[it] must take evidence in a public forum from all concerned, including protesters, and closely examine other recent protests to consider the growing concern that police tactics have become more aggressive in recent years."

The motion outlines six principles which the review of public order policing must be based upon and concludes that:

"If these principles are not fully incorporated into the HMIC review and any recommendations that arise from it, then this Authority will re-examine what further steps need to be taken, including the possibility of instigating a further review."

Jenny Jones AM, Green Party member of the MPA and the party's home affairs spokesperson, said yesterday evening:

"As more and more stories flood out, the reputation of the police has declined with every slow motion replay of the latest corroborating video footage."

She continued:

"It would be easy to think that this misbehaviour is a sudden and worrying new development. Yet there is evidence that the G20 policing debacle is the result of repeated failures by police watchdogs, the media and politicians to deal with incidence of violent and repressive behaviour from the police in recent years."

"As a member of the Met Police Authority for the last nine years, I have been a critical friend of the police, defending them when I see the coverage is unfair, but making it clear when I think they have got it wrong. On 1st April, they got it disastrously wrong. They took away the liberty, the civil liberties and the human rights of hundreds of people who were protesting peacefully. Who had every right to protest and who needed the police's support. What the police did to the fluffy, happy, musical, picnicking Climate Camp part of the protest was violent and unprovoked."

MPA: London crime figures continue to fall

Commenting on the Met's annual crime figures, MPA Vice Chair Kit Malthouse said:

"These latest crime figures are good news for Londoners. I want to commend the Met for its determination in tackling those offences of most concern to our communities, in particular street crime and violence, with crime in London now at its lowest level for ten years.

"The success reflected in the figures is the direct result of the unstinting efforts put in by police officers and staff across London and anti-crime initiatives that we have worked hard with the Met to put in place.

"Overall, the reduction in crime is a positive achievement for the Met this year. Total recorded crime in London is down by 2.2%, 18,621 fewer crimes when comparing 2008/09 with 2007/08.

"Youth violence has also dropped, proving that the Blunt 2 strategy, which uses knife arches to detect whether people are carrying weapons, is working. There are 2,209 fewer victims of youth violence than last year. This figure also exceeds the target set for the Met by the MPA. The MPA sets deliberately tough, testing targets that will stretch the Met, but that we believe are fully achievable with a more focused and tightly defined use of intelligence-led policing together with more effective resource management.

"Most crime categories, apart from hate crime (including rape) and business crime, show a year on year reduction, with the overall sanction detection rate continuing to rise to 26.2%.

"Hate crime offences, domestic violence and recorded rape have all seen increases in crimes recorded by the police this year. It may be that increases in reported crime reflect increased confidence that the police will take such matters seriously, and the rise in sanction detections in this area though still at a low level, is encouraging.

"The increase in business crime reflects the growth of shop lifting offences and may be directly connected to the current economic situation in the capital.

"The MPA knows full well that there is still much work to do and we will continue to scrutinise progress to ensure the service provided to Londoners gets better year on year. The MPA and the Met will continue to work together to tackle criminality, achieve results and make London a safer city for all our communities. "

Notes to Editors
Total recorded crime in London is down by 2.2% or 18,621 fewer crimes when comparing 2008/09 with 2007/08. The number of recorded crimes remains under 900,000 for the second consecutive year.

With the exception of business crime, the majority of crime categories show a year on year reduction.

The overall sanction detection rate has continued to rise and stands at 26.2%. This shows a steady increase in sanction detections with the rate doubling in the last 5 years. Decreases in sanction detection rates are seen for serious acquisitive crime (-0.2 percentage points), residential burglary (-1.3 percentage points), business crime (-0.9 percentage points) and vehicle crime (-0.2 percentage points).

Green Party asks more questions of Met on policing

Jenny Jones, the Home Affairs spokesperson for the Green Party (and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority) responds to the release of footage of a police officer striking a woman protester on the 2nd April 2009:

"This new video footage confirms what many of us knew, that the assault on Ian Thomlinson was far from being an isolated incident during the G20 protest."

"I have been copied in to a large number of the reports of alleged police unprovoked assaults and misbehaviour which are now on the desk of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It's time for Paul Stephenson to restore public trust by showing that lessons will be learned. The use of kettling has to be curtailed and all officers seen acting unprofessionally must be traced and disciplined. Any attempt to avoid accountability by hiding police uniform numbers, destroying video images, or collusion over statements, must be severely dealt with."

"I'm writing to the Mayor of London with some ideas about how to improve policing protests for the future, but I have two further questions for the Met:

1) Will they search their own video footage of 1st April for similar police abuse of peaceful protesters?

2) Will they revise their tactic of snatching protesters' cameras and camera phones?"

URL: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/15-04-2009-further-G20-policing-questions.html

MPA vice chair Kit Malthouse responds to commissioner's request for HMIC G20 public order policing review

'I welcome the Commissioner's swift and decisive action in asking the HMIC to review the Public Order policing tactics used during G20, which will also report to the MPA.

'It is vital that the police retain the trust of Londoners and a thorough review by the HMIC will be crucial to help inform conclusions about how public order events should be policed in the future.

'The most recent footage of G20 is alarming and I also fully support the Commissioner referring the matter to the IPCC and suspending the officer concerned pending the outcome of the independent investigation.

'The MPA has already convened an urgent meeting of its members to review tactics employed during G20 protests and will be questioning the Commissioner about this matter in public at its meeting on 30 April.

'While we take this matter extremely seriously, it is worth pointing out that the Metropolitan Police are responsible for maintaining public order during dozens of protests throughout the year. The vast majority pass off peacefully, and the recent demonstration by the Tamil Community in Parliament Square is an example of this. Nevertheless we cannot afford to skate over even isolated incidents and must get to the truth and learn the lessons of both this incident, that involving Ian Tomlinson, and the G20 generally.'

MPA: Londoners are vital in helping to maintain community confidence in policing

The Metropolitan Police Authority firmly believes that anyone arrested by the police and held in custody has the right to be treated well and have access to good facilities.

But who guarantees this?

Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) make unannounced visits to police stations to provide an independent check that detainees are treated in accordance with their rights and entitlements and ensure their welfare is maintained.

ICVs are ordinary members of the community who, working in teams in their local boroughs, call at police stations unannounced and write short reports about their visits.

Their recommendations can require the police to make improvements for the welfare of detainees, and the work they carry out plays a valuable role in maintaining public confidence in this important area of policing.

To raise awareness of the scheme amongst Londoners, the Authority has commissioned a 30 second radio advert which broadcasts on Choice FM (96.9FM) from Monday 23 March.

Listen to the MPA advert: http://www.mpa.gov.uk/partnerships/icv/radioadvert