Here’s our best info at present on the cops’ plan for climate camp. As always things can change and we may have errors in our admittedly scant intelligence operation.
Firstly, the camp is on the same bank holiday weekend as the Notting Hill Carnival. This will be a bigger operation with 11,500 shifts planned and Commander Broadhurst as Gold with Chief Superintendant Johnson (head of the TSG) as Silver.
As the poor relation, Climate Camp gets Chief Superintendant Ian Thomas (head of CO11) as Gold and Superintendant Julia Pendry as Silver. Pendry is a full timer at CO11 and is best known for being in charge during on the Gaza demo in January, when people were crushed in an underpass by baton-charging cops at Hyde Park Corner. The Bronze for the site will be Chief Inspector Jane Connors, Bronze Reserves East will be Superintendant David Hartshorn (famed for starting the ‘summer of rage’ stories in a press conference), Bronze Reserves West is Superintendant Colin Morgan and Bronze for City Police Chief Inspector Tony Kearny. Chief Inspector Dean Higgins will be the Night Duty Silver.
By some oversight we weren’t given the operational order with the number of cops available. However, with around 60 inspectors or their deputies attending the briefing that climate camp police liaison were invited to, we can expect that number of serials and a total of 1,500 cops over the week.
For the first time in at least thirty years the Met has asked for mutual aid (no, not the Kropotkin type) from other forces. Kent, West Mercia and Cumbria are supplying officers. The forward rendezvous point is the Royal Business Park north of Royal Albert Dock at 2pm on Wednesday 26th August, so they may well be staying in the ExCel complex, ironic eh?
As to use of powers, Pendry’s briefing ruled out use of Section 50 Police Reform Act to gather names and s58A Terrorism Act taking photographs of police officers is only to be used where there is a clear link to terrorism, so that’s out too. Stop and search is to be kept to s1 PACE and s23 Misuse of Drugs Act, but only where reasonable suspicion arises and is ‘not to be overused’.
Knives are a target, including those for use in cooking if not brought in vehicles. Section 44 searches will not be used on the camp neither will s60’s if they are already in place where the camp is set up. Any s60 for the camp is only to be authorised by Pendry not inspectors on the ground. Use of s12 and s14 to impose conditions on marches or assemblies are only to be done on the authority of Bronze’s. During the swoop potential criminal damage offences are to be monitored by FIT and Evidence Gatherers with authority to arrest reserved to the Bronze’s. Containment remains on the agenda.
All supervisors were warned repeatedly that this is the era of the citizen journalist and to JAR (Justify, Account for and Record) their actions. Let’s see what it’s like in practice. Be careful out there!
