Climate camp police force 'disproportionate'
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By
Jenni Horn
The use of stop and search powers at last year’s Climate Camp at
Hoo was “disproportionate and counter productive”, according to an
independent report published today.
The full strategic review of police practices during the
week-long protest last August was commissioned through the National
Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the Association of Chief
Police Officers (ACPO).
It was conducted by Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt of South
Yorkshire Police.
The report follows claims from climate activists who attended
the camp that officers used heavy-handed tactics and deliberately
abused their stop and search powers to disrupt the
protest.
The 36-page report concludes: “The wide scale deployment of stop
and search tactics was both disproportionate and counter
productive.”
It does praise officers for effectively facilitating the
protest march on the day of action and for minimising the impact of
the protest on the local community.
Speaking after the report's release, Chief Constable Michael
Fuller, said: “I am pleased to note that the review highlighted
numerous areas of good practice.
"These included our approach to community engagement, the
information pack for visiting forces, traffic management, knowledge
and understanding of the sites we were dealing with, intelligence
updates, and advance planning and in-force exercise to test our
resourcing and contingencies.
“I also recognise the report identifies several areas for
learning. While many of the recommendations made to us have already
been adopted in the intervening 12 months, there is still work
to be done either within Kent or in conjunction with other forces
or agencies.
"On that basis I have asked Assistant Chief Constable Andy
Adams, who is relatively new to the force, to lead on ensuring all
recommendations are properly addressed. This process will be
overseen by the Kent Police Authority.”
Wednesday, July 22 2009
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