New PND increases police ‘data power’
The new Police National Database PND is now up and running. All of the 43 police forces can now easily and quickly share any information they hold, on a single platform.
This will not only include criminal records, but all that ‘intelligence’ that is so lovingly gathered by FIT teams at political meetings, rallies, protests and actions. You know the stuff – you’ve innocently nipped out to grab a coffee, but in the eyes of the FIT it has become so much more dramatic. ‘target x is carrying out a ‘reccy’ on Cafe Nero for potential violent direct action and criminal damage.....’
Jennie Cronin, Director of Databases at the National Policing Improvement Agency NPIA confirmed to ZednetUK that the database would include intelligence data on protesters;
"It is a matter for the police force [as to] what information they hold," she said, saying such information may be on the national database "if a police force feels it is important enough to have on their own system and feels it is important enough to share". She added, however, that anyone can make a request with their local police force to see if their details are on that force's systems.
Political activists will undoubtedly be reassured, knowing they will be able to check that the FIT aren’t making up tales of terrorism and riot. Or at least they might be, if it were true. For many, the experience to date has been that the various police forces are strangely reluctant to share their ‘important’ data with the individuals concerned. To give just one example, requests by four activists to get their personal data from South Wales Police have all been denied. Information was withheld ‘in the interests of preventing and detecting crime and disorder’.
It’s interesting how low down the pecking order the actual data subjects are. Supplied alongside one denied data protection request was a list of all the people the police would be happy to share the data with, ‘in certain circumstances’. These included security companies; local and central government; current, past and prospective employers; healthcare, social and welfare practitioners; licensing authorities; ‘partner agencies’ involved in crime and disorder strategies; private sector organisations working with police in anti-crime strategies; voluntary sector organisations and ‘approved organisations and people working with police’. Just about anyone, in fact.
So, not only can the FIT make subjective judgements which are then entered onto the database as ‘fact’, this data can now be shared with all 43 police forces on the PND. On top of that it can also be shared with your employer, housing officer, and private security firms like Agenda Security, the ‘extremism monitoring’ organisation which is the latest money-spinner for ex head of NETCU, Steve Pearl. A key role of Agenda Security is to stop political activists ‘infiltrating’ organisations, or to put it another way, to stop them getting a job.
Knowledge is power, and the PND provides the modern ‘intelligence led’ police force with more of both. The consequences for political organising can’t be good.
FIT cops cover up attack on Ian Tomlinson.
Alan Palfrey EK 127
Two years ago, FIT cops Steve Discombe, Alan Palfrey and Ryan Cowlin stood only feet away from Ian Tomlinson when he was hit by PC Harwood, a blow which led to Tomlinson’s death. But, according to an IPCC report out today, they claim to have seen very little of the attack and didn’t even bother to include it in a written report. In fact they appear to have done everything they could to prevent the truth becoming known.
PC Steve Discombe is a field intelligence officer in New Scotland Yard. As is Cowlin. Palfrey is a borough officer from Camden who regularly takes on a FIT role. All three are well-known for harassment, intimidation and violence.
Steve Discombe CO2558
Their alleged role as an intelligence team is to gather intelligence and evidence of criminality. This they plainly failed to do when they witnessed Harwood’s attack on a man who was walking away from police lines. Despite standing so close, one of them claimed to have seen nothing at all, while the other two gave very few details of what happened. Discombe appeared to be more concerned with Harwood’s ‘almost perfect’ technique in delivering the blow, than the harm Tomlinson sustained as a victim of an unprovoked attack.
None of them intervened to help Tomlinson, and none of them expressed any concern at Harwood’s use of force.
From the IPCC report:
“PC Discombe describes Mr Tomlinson as falling “forwards but appeared to brace himself on impact with the pavement. He rolled on to his side, leant up and said something to the Officers who were now facing him. I looked away from Mr Tomlinson and did not see him again”.
“In describing the baton strike PC Discombe states that at the moment when he was struck, Mr Tomlinson was walking away from the cordon and that he remembered thinking “that the strike was delivered in an almost perfect training stance”.”
PC Palfrey took even less notice of the attack than Discombe. He stated:
“With regard to the baton strike I do not recall anything other than the strike landing on Ian Tomlinson’s leg... I do not recall the reaction of Ian Tomlinson to either the baton strike or push”.
Ryan Cowlin, despite being only feet away from the incident “had no recollection whatsoever of having seen Mr Tomlinson on 1 April.”
While the three FIT cops above were clearly complicit in the cover up, they were not alone.
- Only one officer who did see the push expressed concern and made a written record of what she had seen. The IPCC concluded that this was a 'matter for concern'
- Detective Inspector Eddie Hall misled pathologists, telling them Tomlinson had ‘fallen to the ground infront of a police van.' According to the IPCC, Hall was ‘reckless’ but did not ‘intend’ to mislead.
- City of London police investigators kept from the IPCC information received from three Met police officers (not the FIT cops above!!) that Tomlinson had been hit and pushed by police.
Discombe, Cowlin and Palfrey did extremely little to dismantle the veil of silence and misinformation that surrounded Tomlinsons death. The complete lack of respect and concern from these FIT cops for a man who was killed for walking the wrong way through a demonstration is truly sickening.
Cowlin CO5466
These are highly paid ‘specialist’ intelligence cops who write detailed reports about what shoelaces activists are wearing, and where they might have bought a cup of coffee. They harass and pursue campaigners for protesting in 'the wrong place', or for occupying a branch of RBS. But when a real crime happened, they were looking the other way.
Police claim they ‘showed restraint’ at student demo.
Thousands of police were on the streets yesterday, many equipped with hard hats and weapons from the start, all intent on imprisoning protesters in a makeshift detention centre outside the houses of parliament. They viciously and repeatedly beat protesters around the head, leaving one twenty year old with life threatening injuries, and dozens more hospitalised. When protesters continued to push against their lines, they charged horses into the crowd. They threw a journalist to the ground from his wheelchair, and held others on the streets in freezing conditions without medical attention until almost midnight.
This, according to Sir Paul Stephenson, was ‘restraint’. On Radio 4 this morning he claimed we should be grateful that the police escorting Charles and Camilla didn’t open fire on the protesters who attacked the car with paint bombs, a rubbish bin and their bare fists. Given the show of ostentatious wealth paraded in front of young people denied even their EMA, I’d say it was the protesters that showed the restraint.
Hearing the police and some sections of the media dismiss the demonstrators as ‘thugs’ is sickening. The students and school kids out on the streets are fighting for their future, against a load of rich, out of touch MPs who think a £30k debt is mere chicken feed. What the hell are they supposed to do, write a letter?
The students acted with determination and courage. Their efforts to reach Parliament, get into the Treasury and attack Oxford Circus’s Topshop (with chants of 'Pay your taxes!) stretched the police to breaking point. The gloves off brutality of the police showed how close they came to losing control of the situation.
Many demonstrators also understood the need to resist FIT teams. Even early on two FIT teams had to run away as they were pelted with smoke and paint bombs. Fitwatch would have had a lovely picture of the FIT covered in blue paint, but unfortunately our camera was lost and smashed during a later altercation with a police line, so you’ll just have to imagine it!
The police have promised once again for the ‘full force of the law’ to come down on student demonstrators. The FIT will be trawling though their pictures, and the details taken from students in the Westminster kettle who were forced to give their names before release. Fitwatch advice to students fearing arrest remains as important as ever.
Call to Resist Police Data Gathering
During the protests yesterday the police went into a data gathering frenzy. From FIT teams searching and photographing occupying students in Oxford, to police arresting and processing 139 protesters for ‘breaching the peace’ in London, gathering intelligence has clearly been a key objective of police operations.
This building up of ‘intelligence’ on political protesters must be resisted. The police have admitted building up information on police databases, and using intelligence to actively ‘disrupt’ groups or individuals involved in planning or co-ordinating protest. This is not something any of us should help them with!
The breach of the peace arrests in London were a blatant ruse to get personal details of the protesters kettled in Trafalgar Square. This isn’t the first time they have used this tactic, and it probably won’t be the last. It may be too late for the people arrested last night, but everyone should know their rights if arrested for breach of the peace...for next time!!
• Breach of the peace is NOT A CRIMINAL OFFENCE. You cannot be charged, fined or imprisoned. It will not result in a criminal record.
• The police MUST release you when the threat of a breach of the peace has passed. That is usually at the end of the demo when everyone has gone home. If they keep you for longer get advice on taking a claim for unlawful imprisonment.
• The police CANNOT force you to have FINGERPRINTS taken or to provide a DNA sample, if you have only been arrested for breach of the peace. They may ask you to consent, but if you refuse they cannot fingerprint you or take DNA. If they take these by force they are committing an assault.
• As far as you can, KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS TO YOURSELF. Because they MUST release you when the threat of a breach of the peace has passed, there is no obligation for you to give your name and address. Given this information is probably the reason you were initially arrested, they probably won't be happy if you withhold it. They may try all sorts of intimidation, but it could be worth taking some flak to keep your name off the database.
• Worst case scenario, and a fairly unlikely one if the demo is over, you could be held to go in front of a magistrates court. They can ‘bind you over’ to keep the peace, which means that you have to pay a sum of money, say £50 or £100, if you breach the peace again. It is still not a criminal offence.
• They do have the right to take your photo when you are in custody, and can use force to do so if they decide to be bastards. Which they often do.
As with all arrests, avoid ‘friendly’ chats with the arresting or other officers. DO NOT tell them how many demos you have been on, who you travelled with, why / when you got involved, which university you go to etc etc, even in the course of ‘normal’ conversation.
Never, ever give them more information than you have to. Never give a date or place of birth, or answer any of those stupid questions about height, weight, shoe size etc.
It’s not their job to make life easy for political protesters. It’s not our role to make life easy for the police.
7000 demonstrate for the right to work as police impose strict conditions on protest.
Police behind the cordons protecting the Conservative Party conference from right to work protesters
This was, according to the police, an entirely peaceful march, with no criminal offences taking place. It was predominantly a trade union march, upbeat and with plenty of colourful banners. Yet the police still insisted on imposing strict conditions on the route, refusing to allow the march anywhere near the Conservative Party conference which was the focus of the protests. These conditions were ‘robustly’ enforced with ten foot metal cordons, dogs and huge numbers of police officers.
When, towards the end of the march, some from the anarchist block decided to force the point and leave the authorised route, they were immediately ‘kettled’ - surrounded and held by police and dog units. The fifty or so in the kettle were pushed and shoved towards the car park where coaches were waiting, and were told they would be searched and released. Police cameramen carefully filmed each person as they were searched, getting close up shots of head and shoulders, clothing, shoes and ‘identifying features’. Police also demanded they give their name and address on film. The legality of all this is dubious - the Public Order Act (section 60) gives the police powers to search people for weapons but not, as they did here, to gather intelligence for their database while they are doing it.
When about half of the group objected to being filmed in this way, and refused to co-operate with the search while police cameras were present, the police response was to search them by force. At least one protester was left with severe bruising, another missing clumps of hair. None of the searches resulted in anything ‘untoward’ being found, there were no items seized and no arrests.
West Midlands intelligence gatherer 475
Generally the surveillance, while often discrete, was ever present. A large police mobile CCTV van (bearing the words Football Operations) was parked at the march start point. The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), the unit that exists to keep tabs on ‘domestic extremists’ were there too, gathering their own ‘intel’. A very expensive police helicopter hovered above. And police cameramen took photographs from windows of a number of buildings lining the route (out of reach of Fitwatchers!).
Given the extent of surveillance of their members on this march, it is remarkable (though perhaps not surprising) that the unions don’t do more to question where the line is between ‘facilitating’ protest, and controlling political expression.
Police surround protester about to be forcibly searched
FIT at Edinburgh
Cheers to those who have sent pics in from climate camp. Lovely contrast here between Edinburgh FIT with thier little compact camera, and Ian Caswell of the NPOIU with his long lens SLR... and quite a few minders.
Ian Caswell collecting intelligence on climate camp activists
West Lothian and Borders FIT A11064 and A4968 snapping at climate camp Edinburgh
Fitwatching at Climate Camp Edinburgh
The poor old FIT coppers from the shadowy National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) seem to be having a hard time in Edinburgh this week.
A video put out on you tube yesterday showed a great bit of Fitwatching by Climate Camp activists. With determination and some nerve they surrounded NPOIU cop Mark Sully and his expensive long zoom lens camera with scarves and banners. They then held their ground as Sully clearly became frustrated, pointlessly snapping his camera over the banners.
This sort of action is far from being a mere bit of bravado. Sully (CO996) and his sidekick Ian Caswell (1818), are not neutral keepers of the peace, as the police often pretend they are. Their role is to gather intelligence on, and disrupt the actions of climate camp activists. Activists identified photographed by Sully’s long lens camera will find themselves labelled domestic extremists with their own file on NPOIU’s database. Climate campers should buy these guys a drink!
According to reports, Scottish FIT were keen to come across as different to the Met. They were friendly, extremely friendly, happy to hang out on the gate, chatting with the gate shift, passing the time of day. There is nothing wrong with friendly, of course, but activists should know that with a FIT cop all is rarely what it seems. Climate campers would be wise to keep them at a very long arms length, no matter how friendly they are.
Overall policing has been described as fairly low key, perhaps reflecting the desire of RBS to keep the whole thing out of the press. There have been scuffles though, between police and activists outside the RBS building. Two people are reported to have been injured enough to need hospital treatment, both injuries apparently the result of being kicked by police officers. Two others were arrested for breach of the police offences, apparently entirely randomly.
Were you there? Reports on the policing of the site / arrests / assaults on activists are very welcome. Mail us on info@fitwatch.org.uk
FIT at London Mayday 2010
There was one FIT photographer at Mayday 2010 in London - Neil Williams, plus minders, who took my photo shortly after the march left Clerkenwell Green. The FIT teams seemed to be deliberately keeping their distance from the marchers (a couple of thousand of them at least), but keeping a close eye on the 'autonomous bloc' as it marched to Trafalgar Square.
The people going to the Election Meltdown party at Parliament Square peeled off from the main march at Trafalgar Square and continued to Parliament Square without incident.
Once the party in the Square had started, the FIT again kept their distance, watching partygoers from over the road - hard to tell from that distance if they WERE FIT, they had those yellow and blue 'public order' jackets, earpieces and were generally frantically scribbling notes. Some were talking into voice recorders. They directed Neil to take pictures, mostly of people conferring. It looked to me as if one group of three FIT officers at one point were pointing out people in the Square to a flatcap yellow jacket officer, as if it were some kind of FIT training exercise.
As the party wore on, I noticed that a very senior copper - he had one of those caps with a metal lining on the brim - was watching us from a balcony of the Houses of Parliament together with a yellow and blue 'public order' jacket cop, and one - possibly two - photographers, hard to tell from such a distance.
The remarkably chilled watch at a distance policy may have been down to the Mayday party becoming a tourist attraction - the Executioner who'd come to do mock executions of politicians in effigy was having his picture taken with tourists.
Police all out to gather intelligence on EDL and Counter Demo.
FIT at Stop the War
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