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Kettling report highlights Met problems with communications technology
Frequent problems were witnessed in communications technology between the Special Operations Room, Bronze commanders and police officers on the ground, says Liberty Report.
Today Liberty published its report on the policing of the TUC March for the Alternative. The human rights group concluded that the official demonstration was overwhelmingly peaceful, and that the Metropolitan Police’s response was on the whole proportionate. However, Liberty’s concern with the police’s constant focus on the practice of ‘kettling’ remains.
At the invitation of both the TUC and the Metropolitan Police, Liberty provided around 130 legal observers for the protest on 26 March 2011, including two in the force’s Special Operations Room. Pairs of observers were stationed at 35 fixed points, and around 50 moved with different sections of the march.
Although the principal criticism is the Metropolitan Police’s attitude towards kettling, the report says that there were frequent problems with the communications technology between the Special Operations Room, Bronze commanders and police officers on the ground, which often led to confusion. Radios did not work effectively, and officers had to resort to using mobile phones.
The report says: ‘The difficulties posed to the Bronze Commander in this sector seem to have been compounded by communications difficulties with his colleagues. Our observer noted of the group heading towards the main march at 1.10pm: “police lining up across Piccadilly Circus behind stewards on main march […] filtered group down Piccadilly. No trouble. […] Only issue – Bronze not informed group coming” and again at 1.20pm, “seems to be comms problems”. Around 2.45pm he noted: “Police radios keep breaking! Using mobile telephone”. And at 3.50pm, “Bronze again concerned that no advanced warning of arrival [of another break-away group].”’
Later on, the report says: ‘Internal communication during the protest We observed some difficulties with the communication technology between the SOR, Bronze Commanders and officers on the ground. For much of the time the radios did not appear to work effectively and a considerable amount of time was spent trying to get in touch with different officers, and often failing.
'Officers in the SOR resorted to the use of mobile phones as a more reliable means of communication, but this too was unsophisticated. We believe the police should be adequately resourced to keep communication equipment under review for upgrading as far as possible.’
UPDATE: Airwave has been in touch with BAPCO Journal to release a statement regarding the Liberty report. 'Airwave is proud to have supported not only the Metropolitan Police but also the Ambulance and Fire and Rescue Services during this event where around 5,000 users on the Airwave emergency and public safety network were able to communicate throughout the events of that day. '
The statement continues: 'The Airwave network remained fully operational throughout the day and supported all emergency responders attending the event. This was due to extensive planning ahead of the demonstration by Airwave and our emergency service partners, and live management on the day.
'The joint team of Airwave and the MPS worked effectively together in responding to this challenging event ensuring the best possible communication service was available to all radio users.'
Positives
In terms of external communication during the protest, there were some positives, says the report: ‘There was a dedicated team: “Bronze Engagement” tasked with managing social and traditional media. This is a positive development, and we were told that the police ‘tweets’ were the most followed in London on the day. Twitter was used to provide reassurance that people were not being contained, and used to enhance communication and promote public safety.’
