Revealed: how police public order training prepares for future fracking protests

A Freedom of Information request submitted by Netpol has confirmed that training for senior police officers on public order strategy now uses a fictional anti-fracking protest based specifically on camps at Balcombe in West Sussex and Barton Moss in Salford. Find out more here.
 

UK Supreme Court hears appeal in John Catt 'domestic extremism' case

At the beginning of December, an appeal by the Metropolitan Police to the Supreme Court sought to overturn a 2013 ruling that gathering and retaining information on Brighton peace campaigner John Catt and storing it on the national 'domestic extremism' database was unlawful. Netpol was granted permission to intervene in the case and reported on each of the three days of hearings.

You can read our summaries of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 on our website. Judgement has been reserved and the Supreme Court is likely to report early next year.
 

Netpol trains 'Community Monitors' in Manchester

At the end of November, we trained a new group of volunteer 'Community Monitors' for our third pilot project to observe and record the actions of police officers in local communities, this time in Greater Manchester.  The session was a great success and further training is planned for 17 January 2015 - with Community Monitors out on Manchester's streets for the first time on 24 January.

For further information contact Estelle du Boulay at Netpol at estelle@netpol.org
 

We need your support

Netpol's activities monitoring public order, protest and community policing - and challenging excessive and discriminatory policing that threatens civil rights - have grown considerably over the last 12 months. However, we continue to operate on a tiny budget. Can you help by making a small monthly donation to support our work?

You can find out how at netpol.org/about/donations - we really appreciate any help you can offer. 
 

Other News and Comment

• Police asked university for list of attendees at fracking debate - Canterbury Christ Church University, which had invited experts to debate fracking in an open forum, was asked by Kent Police for a list of attendees to allegedly assess “the threat and risk for significant public events in the county to allow it to maintain public safety”.
• Protest organisers' statement on the Westfield 76 arrests  - a London protest in solidarity with demonstrations in the US over the death of Eric Garner led to mass arrests by the Metropolitan Police. A statement by the protest organisers is available here.
• We've come a long way since 2009 - marking Netpol's fifth birthday in November, we have produced a timeline of our achievements to date: see here for more.
• Police tell student officer her posters are potential 'public order offence'- environmental activist and Lancaster University’s students’ union president discovered police were photographing two posters in her office window, in what she described as an evident 'intimidation tactic'.
• Merseyside Police condemned for use of dispersal notices against activists - Liverpool IWW reports on the use of police dispersal powers intended for 'anti-social behaviour' against political campaigners in Liverpool city centre.
• Six NUJ members under police surveillance mount collective legal challenge - a group of journalists including the comedian Mark Thomas, who discovered their activities are monitored and recorded by the Metropolitan Police, are now taking legal action to challenge their ongoing police surveillance.