As we were finishing our recent guidance on what to do if approached by the police, it came to our attention that a number of police forces, including Sergeant Stephen French of Lothian & Borders Police (the force covering Edinburgh) has contacted various individuals to request that they negotiate with them regarding protests in Edinburgh as part of the mobilisation against the G8 Summit. Though much of what we wrote previously applies here, there are interesting implications to these emails, of which more later, and we offer the following advice to anyone who receives such unwelcome contact.

THE ADVICE
Some groups will already have taken a decision to liaise or negotiate with the police. The Dissent network and associated groups are structured non-hierarchically and autonomously. This means that no one is in the position to negotiate or has the mandate, even if that was so desired, to negotiate on behalf of the network. Groups within the network need to consider very carefully whether they want to negotiate with the police. If they decide to do so, it would be better to go through the normal channels rather than replying to emails or letters. Therefore we advise the following:

1. Do not respond. This is for several reasons.
a. You are under no obligation to speak to the police.
b. By responding you are indicating to the police that you do have some sort of authority and that you are an organiser - yes, they can think like that.
c. Even by responding negatively you are opening a dialogue; as with 'no comment' interviews, the best policy is to ignore them as much as possible. Plus, it makes it harder for them to say you 'were uncooperative' in the press.
d. Experience has shown that the police are totally untrustworthy in these sort of negotiations and will easily go back on their word. They are negotiating for their benefit, and those of there political masters, and not ours. They are seeking to minimize the impact of the protests, not facilitate it.

2. Contact your group/network
Let them know so you can take measure of the situation together and if necessary offer the appropriate support.

3. Contact the G8 Legal Support Group
We are monitoring such incidents and other police harassment:  g8legalsupport@riseup.net

THE IMPLICATIONS
Firstly, judging by the people who have been approached, the
communications say more about the level of the local police's intelligence and priorities than about the people receiving them. From what we can tell the people approached are those who have put their head above the parapet for various reasons and thus come to the attention of the state.

The police are clearly working on a hierarchical model and in the absence of other materials this model means they pick on the more visible of our movement. This is life and why people should avoid inferring too much about those who have received the letters & emails. Rather it better to read between the lines of these communications and see just how the state is approaching us. In this case, it would appear their intelligence is more based on a trawl of the internet than anything more sinister.

Secondly, it is a common police tactic to pick out and isolate individuals. This is as much a divide and rule tactic as anything else. It disempowers the individual by increasing the pressure and creating artificial divides beween them and those around them. The best way to deal with this is to refuse to allow the state to set our personal agendas and to put aside the paranoia they are attempting foist on us. This is best achieved by simply ignoring them outright as much as possible.

IF YOU DO RESPOND
If you are part of a group which is negotiating with the police then this needs to be done in a clearly structured way with a clear mandate from your group. There are serious implications to being identified as an 'organizer', that can lead to jail time, so responding to these letters, even on an ad hoc basis could be providing the evidence that you are in fact an organizer.

There are also issues around the fact that you may agree to
something, but if this is not properly communicated to your group, or they chose to ignore you, then you still may be held liable for any subsequent events. Negotiating brings many other responsibilities which are not necessarily obvious, or explained.

The most important point is that people do not act unilaterally when responding to the police in these situations. Also, as noted above, allowing yourself to be dragged into a dialogue with the police opens a relationship with them which they will exploit, perhaps to ask you
to become an informer through playing on political and personal differences within the group. This is not just taking money in exchange for money, but can be done through innocently going for a drink with them and becoming drawn into gossiping about your groups and the various dynamics. The police are not your friends, they are doing a job.

The G8 Legal Support Group

For more information on your rights please visit the following
websites:
www.g8legalsupport.info
www.freebeagles.org
www.ldmg.org.uk
www.activistslegalproject.or