MPA Civil Liberties Panel Responding to G20 DRAFT REPORT

By Metropolitan Police Authority

Following the policing of the protests in central London on 1 and 2 April 2009, which were timed to coincide with the meeting of the G20 heads of state in London, the police came in for significant criticism. The tragic death of Ian Tomlinson and media furore following the G20 protests, prompted a fundamental questioning of the approach to policing protest. Several scrutinies of how the demonstrations were policed have been conducted, including an inspection by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC), at the request of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
The panel’s review overlaps the findings of those reports. This was unavoidable, given the panel’s need to understand how the MPS are responding to the recommendations that were made. Where the Civil Liberties Panel felt there were gaps in those scrutinies, we have conducted our own investigations. The Panel acknowledges that the MPS polices thousands of public order events annually and that most of these pass without incident.
However, the impact on public confidence in policing caused by a small number of instances of poor policing cannot be overestimated and it is for this reason that the MPA’s Civil Liberties Panel chose this as their first topic for review. It should be noted that the panel has not conducted a fundamental review of public order policing.

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