The Free Range electrohippies Project – The 'Research Papers' (Q) Series

Q2. Britain's Secretive Police Force

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Sheet Q2 in the Free Range electrohippies Project's 'Research Papers' series of handout looks at Britain's Secretive Police Force – Politicising the Policing of Public Expression in an Era of Economic Change.

What's the relationship between the recent 'authoritarian' crack-down on "protesters" in Britain, the current economic crisis, the debate on growth, the economy, climate change and resource depletion? Perhaps not that obvious?... This report from the Free Range Network ties these issues together to try and find a deeper motivation behind the recent authoritarian shift against protest and dissent in Britain.

The report considers:

• the recent enactment of repressive laws on protest and dissent, even BEFORE "11/9";
• the role of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in their implementation and the intelligence agenda on "domestic extremism"; and
• the events surrounding G20 (although this report was in preparation a few weeks before G20) that illustrate how this process operates.

In particular it examines the role of ACPO, it's secretive and private investigative organisations (NECTU, WECTU and NPOIU), and the way in which these groups are leading a politicised agenda against any form of non- representative (that is, anything beyond voting, petitions and letter writing!) public pressure in Britain.

Why is this? Well, on its own the "threat of terrorism" just doesn't encompass the scale and depth of the changes that we see. However, when you look at the wider implication of present economic trends, and then factor them into present policy changes, the reasons become more obvious. It's not a "plot" or a "conspiracy", but rather a "coalescence of views" between those parts of the State involved in this process.

From Herbert Marcuse to Ian Blair, from energy efficiency to peak oil, from climate change to renewable energy, and from Athelstan Popkess to the Stasi, in this report we try and make clear the complex trends that are shaping Britain today and why, in the coming era of dramatic economic change, the State is osmotically developing an ad-hoc agenda to restrict our freedoms to complain about it.

The report is 68 pages long, contains 215 references, and nearly all of those references are "clickable" so that you can investigate the background information on which the report is based. The report is also released under a non-commercial open license, so feel free to copy, distribute, extract, quote, etc. (for non-commercial purpose – if not, just send us an email).

Download the report

HTML index file for the report (total size, xx kilo-bytes)
A 1.9 mega-byte colour PDF file (for viewing/colour printing)
A 2.4 mega-byte ZIP archive of all the files (for viewing from your hard disk/mirroring on-line)

Background information/links

Coverage:

As the political consensus collapses, now all dissenters face suppression, George Monbiot, The Guardian, Tuesday 19^th May 2009.   NETCU's response to the article, The Guardian, Friday 22^nd May 2009




Reports:

the electrohippies facsimile verision – NETCU's Policing Protest Pocket Legislation Guide (2007)
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Policing Disorder (March 1999)
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Thematic Report, Keeping the Peace (March 1999)
Home Office, CONTEST-II Strategy (public leaflet, March 2009)
Department for Constitutional Affairs, Making Sense of Human Rights – A Short Introduction (October 2006)
Limits to Growth, Free Range EBO Project Sheet S1, Free Range Network, October 2008




Parliamentary Committee Reports:

Demonstrating Respect For Rights? A Human Rights Approach To Policing Protest, Joint Human Rights Committee Seventh Report (2009/9 session) HL47-I/II
Surveillance: Citizens and the State, Constitution Committee Second Report (2008/9 session) HL18-I/II, January 2009
Surveillance: Citizens and the State, House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution, Second Report (Session 2008/09) HL18-I/II, February 2009
A Surveillance Society?, House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Fifth Report (Session 2007/08) HC58-I/II, June 2008




Articles:

The Paranoia Squad, George Monbiot, The Guardian, 23^rd December 2008
Police warn of growing threat from eco-terrorists, Mark Townsend, The Observer, Sunday November 9^th 2008
Police unit to target green protesters, The Independent, 7^th November 1998
We are all extremists now, Seumas Milne, The Guardian, Monday 16^th February 2009
Secret police unit set up to spy on British 'domestic extremists', The Daily Mail, 7^th February 2009
London Mayor confirms that police record and monitor innocent people, London Green Party, 31^st March 2009
Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters, The Guardian, Friday 6^th March 2009
The secret police are watching you, Henry Porter's Blog, The Guardian, 10^th February 2009
Police Arrest 114 People in Pre-emptive strike Against Environmental Protesters, The Guardian, 13^th April 2009
Secret Police Intelligence was Given to E.ON Before Planned Demo, The Guardian, Monday 20^th April 2009




Wikipedia:

Association of Chief Police Officers
National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU)
National Public Order Intelligence Unit
Home Office
List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom
Police Authority
Territorial Support Group
2009 G20 London Summit Protests
Kettling
The Big Lie
Edward Bernays
Limits to Growth




Web sites:

NETCUWatch – http://netcu.wordpress.com/




Legislation:

The Police Act 1997
Security Services Act 1996
Terrorism Act 2000
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act 2000
The Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) 2005
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Area) Order 2005, SI. 1537/2005
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Sites) Order 2005, SI. 3447/2005