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Riot police taught to treat the public 'as their enemy', former chief claims
Riot police are taught to treat the public as their “enemy” and regard every situation as a “threat”, former police chiefs will tell a top-level inquiry into the G20 protests.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
David Gilbertson, a retired Scotland Yard commander and assistant inspector of constabulary, said that the “defensive” approach once central to British policing has “morphed into a faux US-style operation” where officers wear military-looking uniforms and used batons and Taser stun guns to clamp down on perceived dissent.
He claimed that a “crisis of leadership” had filtered down to officers, who are overly aggressive because they consider any contact with the public as a potential threat – as seen during the G20 protests.
Scotland Yard is facing damaging three inquiries into the alleged manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson, and two alleged assaults at the demonstrations. Meanwhile lawyers are compiling a “dossier” of up to 400 other complaints from protesters claiming to have been victims or witnesses to police brutality.
Mr Gilbertson said: “Officers are trained to be on guard against attack, to regard every situation, no matter how seemingly benign, as a threat situation. The lesson is that the public are your enemy. That mindset appeared to dominate at the G20 protests.”
He said that a number of “concerned” former police chiefs are writing to Denis O’Connor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, who was called on last week to carry out a review of public order policing tactics.
Mr O’Connor will appear today (Tue) in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee, together with Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The committee will examine the tactics used at the G20 protests and ask whether the police were being effectively “policed” themselves.
Mr Hardwick has already called on Parliament to lead a national debate on how police maintain public order at protests.
Video clips continue to appear showing police hitting out at protesters who took to the streets during the demonstrations earlier this month.
One shows a riot officer apparently striking Alex Kinnane, 24, over the head with his shield.
It also emerged that a sergeant under investigation for an alleged assault on Nicky Fisher outside the Bank of England on April 2, is facing a second complaint from a female protester the day before.
Katie Surridge, 24, a student, claims she was the victim of an “unprovoked attack” by the Territorial Support Group officer, who pushed her forceably to the floor.
The IPCC has received more than 185 complaints relating to the G20 protest, almost 90 of which are about alleged excessive police force.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5188222/Riot-police-taught-to-treat-the-public-as-their-enemy-former-chief-claims.html