Saturday, April 18, 2009
Are the police becoming politicised?
Today's Times reports that the Police who arrested the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green trawled his private e-mails looking for information on Britain’s leading civil liberties campaigner, Shami Chakrabarti:
Police who arrested the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green trawled his private e-mails looking for information on Britain’s leading civil liberties campaigner.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terror squad searched the computer seized from his parliamentary office using the key words “Shami Chakrabarti” – even though the Liberty director had nothing to do with the leaking of Home Office documents that prompted the investigation.
The paper continues:
Ms Chakrabarti said she had never been approached by the police as part of their inquiry and was alarmed to learn that her name had been used as a key search word. “I think this raises very serious questions about just how politicised, even McCarthyite, this operation was,” she said.
The Government was accused last year of trying to “smear” the Liberty director after Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, said that she had “late-night, hand-wringing, heart-melting phone calls” with David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary who resigned over the 42-day detention row.
The arrest of Damian Green is dubious enough but this information puts a different perspective on it. It is not a good time for the Metropolitian Police and the Home Secretary. The latest news about Ian Tomlinson is just shocking and raises more questions about the way that demonstrations are policed in London. The tactics used by the Police were openly political in my view. Their role should be to facilitate protest not to suppress it.
The Government appears to be keen to use the Police as an extension of the body politic. The revelation of Damian Green that he was threatened with life imprisonment during the interview following his arrest indicates that some officers are embracing that role rather too enthusiastically.
Police who arrested the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green trawled his private e-mails looking for information on Britain’s leading civil liberties campaigner.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terror squad searched the computer seized from his parliamentary office using the key words “Shami Chakrabarti” – even though the Liberty director had nothing to do with the leaking of Home Office documents that prompted the investigation.
The paper continues:
Ms Chakrabarti said she had never been approached by the police as part of their inquiry and was alarmed to learn that her name had been used as a key search word. “I think this raises very serious questions about just how politicised, even McCarthyite, this operation was,” she said.
The Government was accused last year of trying to “smear” the Liberty director after Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, said that she had “late-night, hand-wringing, heart-melting phone calls” with David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary who resigned over the 42-day detention row.
The arrest of Damian Green is dubious enough but this information puts a different perspective on it. It is not a good time for the Metropolitian Police and the Home Secretary. The latest news about Ian Tomlinson is just shocking and raises more questions about the way that demonstrations are policed in London. The tactics used by the Police were openly political in my view. Their role should be to facilitate protest not to suppress it.
The Government appears to be keen to use the Police as an extension of the body politic. The revelation of Damian Green that he was threatened with life imprisonment during the interview following his arrest indicates that some officers are embracing that role rather too enthusiastically.
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Cynical Yorkshirewoman writes: You're 25 years out of date here. The police have been the militant wing of authoritarian governments who wish to suppress protest since the miner's strike, if not before.
The police in the UK are headed down a path to a scenario which exists in France, where the public have nothing but contempt.
Not an ideal situation if you're relying on the public to report suspicious activity.
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Not an ideal situation if you're relying on the public to report suspicious activity.
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