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Sussex police Liaison Officers, Explain Unannounced Visits

Alan Taylor-Shearer | 29.09.2012 14:35 | Policing | South Coast

After facing accusations of Sussex Police 'Protest Liaison Officers' being used for Intelligence gathering by Police watch dogs on twitter, I went to Sussex Police & got their side of the story direct from them.

The twitter feed that prompted my interest and subsequent interview with Sussex Police‏ 'Protest Liaison Officers' is transcribed below. I was interested to hear what they had to say in answer to the allegations of intelligence gathering & making unannounced visits alleged protestors.
@copwatcher
Brighton's "Protest Liaison Officers", busy with unannounced visits to activists' homes, are on Twitter: @SusPolPLO

‏@SusPolPLO
@alantshearer @copwatcher Wanting to facilitate protests through engagement, need to speak to people somehow in order to do this.

@SusPolPLO
@SusPolPLO @alantshearer @copwatcher With the groups that engage with me I arrange how best to contact them.

‏@SusPolPLO
@SusPolPLO @alantshearer @copwatcher I proactively seek to speak to all groups, visits are part of my attempts to engage.

@SusPolPLO
@alantshearer @copwatcher No I have never been involved in preventative arrests, that is NOT the role of a PLO.

‏@policemonitor
@alantshearer @SusPolPLO Would also be interested in written policy of Sussex police on role of PLO - could Netpol have a copy too?

‏@policemonitor
@alantshearer @SusPolPLO would also like to know how/where info from 'dialogue and communication' is recorded, retained and who has access.

‏@copwatcher
@alantshearer sorry have been away from Twitter. Didn't mean to imply pre-emptive arrests, just unannounced visits.

After some digging I managed to get an interview with the PLO team who gave an explanation of how the team worked and they refute the Intelligence gathering claim. I am still in negotiations with the other people from the twitter feed to get interviews and more evidence from them.

Alan Taylor-Shearer
- e-mail: alantshearer@me.com
- Homepage: about.me/alantshearer

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. You can throw a copper futher than you can trust them — ACAB
  2. Don't get mad.... — Eye told yopu so.