Skip to content or view screen version

Metropolitan Police in the Twitterverse

Antonin Artaud | 19.08.2009 10:49 | Policing

CO11 join Twitter.

The Metropolitan Police's Public Order Operational Command Unit (CO11) have opened a Twitter account. Keeping their online and actual personas synced, they explicitly state that they will not respond to messages via Twitter.

According to a statement on their website, the account has been set up to "specifically to inform the Camp for Climate Action of any operational updates relating to the policing of their event starting on 26 August."

To make the distance between them and everyone else more apparent, their Twitter policy states that "being followed by us does not imply endorsement of any kind." Sorry hippies. Just because the fuzz have an interest in you, doesn't mean they acknowledge you.

Their Twitter policy further states "The CO11 team reads all @replies and Direct Messages and ensures that any emerging themes or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant people."

This could be fun....

Antonin Artaud

Additions

The article in full

19.08.2009 11:59


The metropolitan police CO11 Public Order Operational Command Unit has opened an account on Twitter in order to relay information regarding the forthcoming Camp for Climate Action protest in London starting on Wednesday 26th August 2009.

They say it is designed specifically to relay information to participants of the Climate Camp.

The Twitter channel:  http://twitter.com/CO11MetPolice currently has one update, simply saying "This is the official Metropolitan Police Twitter channel for #CO11" The account is only following one other twitter account - the Ministry of Justice  http://twitter.com/JusticeUK

CO11 is responsible for public order policing as well as the Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) who overtly monitor, harass and try to disrupt political campaigners and others.

Several campaigners have dismissed the move by the MET CO11 unit as an attempt to repair their image after widespread condemnation following the policing of the G20 protests in which one man was killed after being attacked by police officers and countless others injured. The criticism of the policing of the G20 protests came after several reports also criticised the policing of previous climate camp protests, where protestors and members of the press were systematically abused by police officers over the duration of the protest.

The MET have also given assurances that they will employ a "community-style" policing operation for the Camp for Climate Action protest that will limit the use of surveillance units and stop-and-searches wherever possible.

Francis Wright, a Climate Camp legal adviser who will brief police officers on Thursday. "We're pleased they have been forthcoming and have been making some of the right noises, but we have to see how they deliver on the day."

Kevin Smith, who is helping plan the camp, said: "Given the enormous loss of public confidence that the police suffered as a result of the draconian tactics they used at Kingsnorth last year and during the G20, it's no surprise that they would want to be seen mounting a charm offensive at the Climate Camp.

"But we need to see if the authorities are going to take a more reasonable approach to the policing of protest in years to come when there might not be the massive public spotlight that there will be at the Climate Camp."

Following the G20 protests earlier in the year the police have been instructed to review aspects of their public order policing including the controversial use of 'kettling' protestors. They have also issued new guidelines on their powers under counter terrorism legislation regarding people taking photographs of police officers after a string of complaints that they were misusing powers to intimidate photographers and illegally force people to delete images from their cameras.

MPS C011 Twitter Policy

 http://www.met.police.uk/webinfo/twitter.htm
Content

The CO11 Met Police Event Planning Team Twitter account is managed by the enews team in the Directorate of Public Affairs, on behalf of colleagues across the department.

The account has been set up to specifically to inform the Camp for Climate Action of any operational updates relating to the policing of their event starting on 26 August.

We may occasionally use some automation (such as tools which generate tweets from RSS feeds) but intend that this will not dominate the messages posted.

If you follow us, you can expect tweets covering some or all of the following:

* Operational updates about the policing of the Camp for Climate Action, relevant to participants
* Information from emergency services partners relevant to the safety and well being of participants of the Camp for Climate Action
* Crime prevention advice or local community information relevant to participants of the Camp for Climate Action

Following

If you follow us on Twitter we will not automatically follow you back. This is to discourage the use of direct messaging, avoid resource wasting spam handling and so that you can easily identify other key Twitter users we think are relevant to our work in who we follow. Being followed by us does not imply endorsement of any kind.
Availability

We will update and monitor our Twitter account during periods of operational activity. Twitter may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.
@Replies and Direct Messages

We welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. However, we are not able to reply individually to the messages we receive via Twitter.

The CO11 team reads all @replies and Direct Messages and ensures that any emerging themes or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant people.

The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the contact us section of our website.

reposta
- Homepage: http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1911


Update from Camp Legal Team on Policing

19.08.2009 12:02

Extract from Camp Legal Guide
 http://climatecamp.org.uk/actions/london-2009/legal

News from the Met - The policing operation is called Operation Bentham: Gold is Ian Thomas, Silver is Julia Pendry, and there are various Bronzes, the one for the Camp is Jane Connors. The indications at this stage are, from both the liaison going on with the Met and from our understanding of the current climate post Kingsnorth and particularly the G20, that the Met will not ‘do a Kingsnorth’.

The liaison meetings to date have been constructive with the Met working consciously with ‘no surprises’– however, we are told by those who did the liaison then that they were before Kingsnorth too so there are no guarantees. So keeping that in mind… We have been told the policing will be community style as a community within a community as there is no mass action planned, provided the Camp is not in a sensitive area (like an airport or a road).

There is no plan for a ring of steel around the Camp. Music and sleep deprivation will not be used as a tactic. The policing will be reasonable if the Camp is reasonable. Any affinity group actions will be policed geographically – ie. where they happen. Searches and FIT will not be over used as a tactic but FIT will be present as the Camp forms and people arrive and for the swoop. (Remember you do not have to cooperate with being filmed and photographed.)

We have been told there will be more concern about items going off the Camp for actions than with items going on given that there may be affinity group action. Strategic reserves will be available but if possible out of sight.

There will be a mobile police station for the Camp and the Met hope to resolve complaints informally there. The perimeter will be patrolled but there will not be routine patrols in the camp.

The Met have a twitter for the Climate Camp to keep Campers up-to-date - CO11Metpolice – which you might like to follow. Key working groups like police liaison and legal obviously will follow Met tweets.

---

Download full Legal Briefing
 http://climatecamp.org.uk/actions/london-2009/2009_Legal_Briefing.pdf

Download Bust Card
 http://climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/working-groups/legal/09Bustcard.pdf

Download Driver's Legal Briefing
 http://climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/working-groups/legal/driver_briefing.pdf

Inappropriate comment?

reposta


Comments

Hide the following 19 comments

Collecting data?

19.08.2009 12:12

Are they really hoping to collect all our phone numbers when we sign up?

Is it possible to automatically redirect all their twitters to an alternative account that people can sign up to instead?

twit


Climate Camp briefing Police in Gravesend???

19.08.2009 12:34

Is the following statement from the Guardian article true?

"a delegation from this year's Climate Camp will be taken to the Met's public order training centre on Thursday in Gravesend, Kent, where they have been asked to brief officers being drafted in from across the country to help police the event."

Confused


No wonder people are not going...

19.08.2009 13:45

We were told before the Climate Camp in the City that the organisers had formed a good relationship with the police and look what happened then. By having these secretive ‘liaison’ meetings with the police makes their job a lot easier because it justifies any heavy-handed action should anyone involved with the camp do anything that remotely challenges the status quo.

We also learn from the Ecologist that a group of First Nation representatives are flying to the UK to attend the Climate Camp to tell us about the fight against tar sands. Whilst I am sure no-one will disagree with what they have to say, was it really necessary for them to fly here?

 http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/305004/tar_sands_protest_comes_to_uk_climate_camp.html

It is amazing that Greenpeace manages to organise large-scale actions without having to liaise with the police in advance.

No wonder so many people are refusing to support this year’s camp.

Jane B


Operation Bentham

19.08.2009 14:09

Police Camera at Climate Camp 2007
Police Camera at Climate Camp 2007

So the police are calling the climate camp Operation BENTHAM. Did the FIT think that name up? They must be taking the piss...

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."

Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example."

Contemporary social critics often assert that mass and individual surveillance technology has allowed for the deployment of panoptic structures invisibly throughout society.

Will the surveillance drone used at the RWB festival protests will be at this year's climate camp?

Jeremy
- Homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon


amusing the drones

19.08.2009 14:36

"Will the surveillance drone used at the RWB festival protests be at this year's climate camp?"

Would helium filled baloons on very long strings give the drones something beautiful to photograph? If they were a little above the optimum flying level it would give the operators something a little more taxing to deal with as well, keep them on their toes in case they miss (or hit) anything

balloonologist


I'm still going

19.08.2009 14:38

I seem to have heard exactly the opposite to you, Jane. I'd heard that, before the G20, the police refused to speak to Climate Camp Legal until th eday before the G20, and only then because an MP told them they had to. This seems to be bourne out by the HIMC report:
"Climate Camp contacted the MPS [Metropolitian Police Service] directly about the climate camp protest. On the 23rd March Climate Camp’s legal support team emailed the MPS regarding the proposed climate camp on the 1st April. A member of the Climate Camp legal team also made telephone contact with the MPS regarding the climate camp. Climate Camp sought details of the chain of command for the operation to allow volunteers to act as police liaison during the camp. On the 31st March 2009, the police met with legal and media representatives of Climate Camp in a meeting facilitated by David Howarth MP." (p.42 -  http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/docs/ap/)

And, in terms of acting secretly, legal seem to me to be as open and accountable as other climate camp working groups. And a lot more active than legal support I've come across in other activists movements. Personally, I'm very glad they're there. And I'm not aware of anything like Climate Camp that Greenpeace organise that you're using to compare?

Finally, I'm no fan of the police at all, but if they're not going to unlawfully stop & search me and they're not going to beat me up I think that is a good thing. Am I missing something?

Still Camping


Just released - video of previous CC/Met liaison meeting

19.08.2009 14:43

Just released is a video of a previous CC/Met liaison meeting earlier this year in April. The negotiations seem a bit one-sided to me but I hear that CC remain optimistic of maintaining a great working relationship with London's finest.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs

A
- Homepage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs


@Still Camping

19.08.2009 15:14

i think the point is that you can't trust a word those bastards in blue (black & luminous are also 'in' this season) say.

"Finally, I'm no fan of the police at all, but if they're not going to unlawfully stop & search me and they're not going to beat me up I think that is a good thing. Am I missing something?"

do you think those rights are going to be gained by negotiation? dream on

s


and

19.08.2009 17:36

do you think that a full scale riot will do anything but justify any action taken.

then your living in a would of total make believe.

You want to be a marta then go right ahead, me I after getting the message out and living the change, if you are just after a fight then join Combat 18, they love people like you.

anon


Anon, what...

19.08.2009 19:01

Anon, what are you talking about?

Krazy Kat


@ anon

19.08.2009 19:07

what do you mean to say anon?

That those who want to confront rather than co-operate with the police must be Nazis?

pigwatch


goldfish memory - meet the new boss...

19.08.2009 20:28

[[The Met has hosted four meetings in an attempt to prepare for next week's protest. "The level of engagement from police has been there," said Francis Wright, a Climate Camp legal adviser who will brief police officers on Thursday. "We're pleased they have been forthcoming and have been making some of the right noises, but we have to see how they deliver on the day." She said one positive factor was the change in personnel. Commander Bob Broadhurst, who led the Met's G20 operation, will not be involved in policing the camp and will instead oversee the Notting Hill carnival, which takes place at the same time. His replacement as "gold" commander, Chief Superintendant Ian Thomas]]

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/18/met-police-climate-camp-twitter

Ian Thomas was Silver commander for the G20 protests, but there's no reason at all that Frances should know that, it's not like they sat down to discuss their plans. Oh, hang on, it is:

 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/418/418we03.htm

ACAB


climate camp, friend or foe?

19.08.2009 20:56

If climate camp's aim is to persuade the government to reform the current capitalist system into a nicer greener one, then collaborating with the state, in this case the police is a logical move. However if climate camp's aim is to tackle the root cause of environmental destruction - capitalism and perpetual growth, then it would seem like a strange step.

anonamouss


Contradiction in CC interview with Met

19.08.2009 21:11

CC representatives meeting with the Met before G20 Climate Camp in Bishopsgate, The City:

 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/418/418we03.htm

NOTES OF MEETING BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF CLIMATE CAMP AND METROPOLITAN POLICE, 31 MARCH 2009

Present: David Howarth (DH), Mel Evans (ME), Frances Wright (FW), Robert Broadhurst (RB), Ian Thompson (IT)

---------------------
Later in the meeting:

Robert Broadhurst - Do Climate Camp representatives have any ideas as to where it will be?

Frances Wright - No—don't have that information yet, but do have ideas about places where it could be done safely. Do police have any ideas about where they would like it to be?


Then later Frances says to The Met:

Frances Wright - In any case, nobody has heard of the European Climate Exchange, where the camp is happening—part of the reason for the protest!




@
- Homepage: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/418/418we03.htm


don't think there's anything really in that

19.08.2009 21:40

yeah it is a contradiction, but it's slightly bizarre - the "plan", to swoop on Bishopsgate, had been in every newspaper every day for a week even before that meeting - the ECE was widely publicised as the target. don't think there's anything in it - not even sure why the previous poster has highlighted this in fact. whatever you might think of the "negotiations" with the cops, it's not like FW let out any secrets.

s


Ha :)

20.08.2009 06:57

is there any connection between Ian Thompson and the late Ian Tomlinson? Well yes, one killed the other! but don't worry, he won't do it again!

OK now seriously, we have strength in unpredictability, now i won't jump into the hoops, and I definitely won't give the plods my number, I'm sure they can get it if they so wish. but what do they expect? it's better to have an effective protest then a policed one! and what are we trying to get out of this camp? I don't see it stopping the whole carbon trading thing, at all! it would when we stop playing the "our side" and the "cops side" game, and instead work together to achieve mutual goals, but this involves either us giving up on our goals or the cops "taking up arms" sort of speak and working with us.

as far as education goes, we've done it already, everyone knows about climate change, everyone knows what should be done, and everyone who will probably have already started taking personal measures to reduce their foot print, that is on a personal level, so then... what are our goals? what do we want to get from this camp? do we want to stop carbon trading? well yes, but I don't see the camp doing that! do we want to stop heavy industry and pollution based markets? yes but we can't do that under the looking glass of the plod, what we can do is make headlines, but what are headlines good for? maybe we want to convince investors to invest in non polluting industries? maybe we want to... you get the point! I don't really see the point in this particular camp, and having been to past camps, I think i might just stay at home for this one, not to undermine it, and the past ones did achieve some very good things... it's just that i can't think of what those were! (Actually I think they achieved a lot in radicalizing people to take other actions later), but as far as saving the world goes, well... we're fucked if we keep on doing old tricks, and yes we need the police on our side, but we shouldn't switch sides for that!

jhkjhkjhk


fitwatch

20.08.2009 10:45

FITwatch will be doing workshops at climate camp, but it sounds like some FITwatching may be needed in the first few hours.

You do not need to co-operate with filming. That means you can hold objects - banners, placards, jackets, anything you like - in front of your face without breaking the law. This is accepted by police and it is very unlikely you will have any problems with the police for doing this. If they use force take details and consider taking legal action.

FITwatch maintains that. as the police are acting unlawfully in collecting data on protesters, you are equally able to impede the police filming others, as you are preventing a crime taking place. This is not accepted (yet) by the police and is currently legal argument going through the courts.

Blocking cameras is VERY effective in stopping FIT operations. The more people do it, the less chance there is of anyone getting arrested. FIT teams will usually withdraw if confronted by enough people. If you are arrested doing this, there is a defence, and the charge of obstructing police is VERY minor.

FIT databases WILL result in individuals being harassed and monitored. It is not acceptable and their presence undermines the ability of EVERYONE to take part in events like the climate camp. If you think it does not concern you, think again.

If you see FIT teams, don't wait to be invited, ACT. FITwatch is something everyone and anyone should do. Shut them down. They are not wanted.

Fighting Fit
mail e-mail: defycops@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.fitwatch.org.uk


no no no

24.08.2009 13:26

fuck the pigs!!!!!!

HatePolice