DSE 2005 saw 4,000 cops mobilised to prevent protesters causing disruption to the 20,000 delegates attenting the what organisers would like us to think is the worlds largest arms fair (it's not). With a policing bill of over 4 million pounds you'd perhaps have expected the coppers to win hands down against the ragged remains of the anti-war movement who set out to cause as much disruption as possible and yet the police completely failed to stop multiply lock-ons, action on the DLR and much much more. The result of this was stations closed, replacement buses, arms dealers walking long distances past crowds of protesters and even breaches of security to delegates hotels, including the Dorchester when the delegates met for dinner.
So how come 4,000 coppers and months and months of preperation and intelligence gather failed so completely to have it's desired effect?
First of all it is the inability of the police to put themselves in the mindset of their opponent. They simply can not understand how we function, how we organise and plan without leaders and without a chain of command. They continually seek 'ring leaders', imagining that faces familar to them from multiple meetings on which they spy will actualy prove to be key people in the actions that take place but they don't understand the way in which things are facilitated (and I don't intend to correct their misunderstanding here).
Secondly their intelligence proved to be hopelessly out-of-date and inaccurate. Their Oracle 17 'bingo' card of faces to watch out for was like a who's who of some of the most obvious faces from the history of previous years mobilisation but it did not reflect any new intelligence on who would be active this year. Many of those on the card were this year either not involved at all or playing supportive roles in terms of the campaign infrastructure. If this is the best their constant spying can achieve then we can sleep more comfortably in the knowledge that they really aren't on the ball at all. It is clear that their Forward Inteligence Team really exists for no other practical purpose than to harrass and intimidate - it certainly has nothing to do with intelligence.
Another clue about how crap their intelligence really is has come from the daily observation of specific squats in east London. One of the squats was evicted three weeks ago but the police have had virtually a 24 hour presense everyday for the last week while the only occupants have been a few people living in trailers round the side of the building.
Cops from around the country were sent to keep an eye on their known 'trouble makers' but lost them as soon as they hit London.
Police stopped countless vehicles but failed to locate lock-on equipement before it was used and even failed to nick the vehicles involved after the actions so they got to be used again!
Likewise for some of those arrested and released. They lost their tails and went on to do further actions around the city while the cops pissed around with clowns near the docks.
Each day saw massive police presence at the convergence centre and yet people still managed to time their excape from the building loaded up with equipment for the next day, right under the noses of the cops who after a few hours on shift would sit on a wall and spent hours on their phones to wifes or boy friends or whoever without noticing those pushing trailers full of kit quietly out the gate and around the corner before they looked up.
So, a week of actions with so limited funds and resources against the overwhelming numbers of the cops and yet they still couldn't beat us. We might not have shut down DSEi this year but they certainly didn't stop us from causing the delegates a few headaches.
So how come 4,000 coppers and months and months of preperation and intelligence gather failed so completely to have it's desired effect?
First of all it is the inability of the police to put themselves in the mindset of their opponent. They simply can not understand how we function, how we organise and plan without leaders and without a chain of command. They continually seek 'ring leaders', imagining that faces familar to them from multiple meetings on which they spy will actualy prove to be key people in the actions that take place but they don't understand the way in which things are facilitated (and I don't intend to correct their misunderstanding here).
Secondly their intelligence proved to be hopelessly out-of-date and inaccurate. Their Oracle 17 'bingo' card of faces to watch out for was like a who's who of some of the most obvious faces from the history of previous years mobilisation but it did not reflect any new intelligence on who would be active this year. Many of those on the card were this year either not involved at all or playing supportive roles in terms of the campaign infrastructure. If this is the best their constant spying can achieve then we can sleep more comfortably in the knowledge that they really aren't on the ball at all. It is clear that their Forward Inteligence Team really exists for no other practical purpose than to harrass and intimidate - it certainly has nothing to do with intelligence.
Another clue about how crap their intelligence really is has come from the daily observation of specific squats in east London. One of the squats was evicted three weeks ago but the police have had virtually a 24 hour presense everyday for the last week while the only occupants have been a few people living in trailers round the side of the building.
Cops from around the country were sent to keep an eye on their known 'trouble makers' but lost them as soon as they hit London.
Police stopped countless vehicles but failed to locate lock-on equipement before it was used and even failed to nick the vehicles involved after the actions so they got to be used again!
Likewise for some of those arrested and released. They lost their tails and went on to do further actions around the city while the cops pissed around with clowns near the docks.
Each day saw massive police presence at the convergence centre and yet people still managed to time their excape from the building loaded up with equipment for the next day, right under the noses of the cops who after a few hours on shift would sit on a wall and spent hours on their phones to wifes or boy friends or whoever without noticing those pushing trailers full of kit quietly out the gate and around the corner before they looked up.
So, a week of actions with so limited funds and resources against the overwhelming numbers of the cops and yet they still couldn't beat us. We might not have shut down DSEi this year but they certainly didn't stop us from causing the delegates a few headaches.
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