Guardian | Riots: Metropolitan police planned to hold all suspects in custody, leaked strategy amounts to a blanket policy of mass imprisonments and could lead to legal challenge, say lawyers. Read Operation Withern's prisoner processing strategy Senior Metropolitan police officers devised a policy of holding all people arrested on riot-related offences in custody and recommending that the courts also refuse bail after they were charged, according to a leaked "prisoner processing strategy" that lawyers argue could pave the way for a mass legal challenge.
The document, seen by the Guardian, was circulated to all investigating officers at the height of the violence two weeks ago by Operation Withern, the codename for Scotland Yard's emergency response to the outbreak of violence in the capital. It suggested that no one arrested in or after the riots should be let off with a caution – regardless of the offence – and that everyone arrested should be held in custody, with a recommendation that bail should also be denied when the case first goes to court.
Lawyers began proceedings on Monday for the first judicial review of the custody procedures, which resulted in 62% of those arrested for involvement in the riots remanded in custody compared with a normal rate of around 10% for more serious offences. They claimed the document amounted to a blanket policy of mass imprisonment of people.
The police document argues that the policy was necessary to prevent further public disorder as violence spread through the capital. But it also acknowledges that the force was so stretched at the height of the riots that it was "impractical" to bail people while they conducted "protracted" investigations, suggesting that investigating officers use special rules to fast-track cases to the courts with less evidence than is normally required. The recommendation could expose the Metropolitan police to accusations that it adopted a policy of "conveyer belt" justice in order to deal with its unprecedented workload.
The document, titled Operation Withern: prisoner processing strategy, includes a suggested statement for investigating officers to use in the prosecuting reports of individual cases, which are then passed to the Crown Prosecution Service. It says: "A strategic decision has been made by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] that in all cases an application will be made for remand in custody both at the police station, and later at court. This decision has been made in the interest of public safety and the prevention of further cases of disorder. The spontaneous nature of these offences and the significant burden it has placed on police resources has meant that not all inquiries have yet been completed. Some inquiries, such as gathering of CCTV, are not capable of being progressed at present due to the ongoing public disorder in and around London.
"As a result this case requires the application of a 'threshold test' for a charging decision based on the evidence present and the expectation that further evidence may be forthcoming."
8 comments:
Guantanamo comes to London, and soon to the rest of us who dare to protest injustice.
This is stupid and show how naive and clueless the White Privilege class is over in the UK. What happens when you lock up a bunch of people for raging against the machine in the same jail? They talk and organize with each other and come out more sophisticated and determined.
I would have kept them out of prison...
One of my colleagues and good buddies is a retired army colonel from Ft. Leavenworth. Good brother who was a development leader for the Patriot missile system and various and sundry automated infantry programs. He was chuckling at how far the British have come from the days of colonial riot control, and actually produced a copy of old-fashioned British colonial riot control procedure. It was a shockingly brief two page document dominated by the tactical necessity of promptly sussing out the "leaders" of the riot and then very conspicuously shooting them in the head.
Wash, rinse, and repeat as many times as needed until the riot is quelled.
I predict we'll see exactly such procedures implemented before too terribly long in multiple locations across the "developed" world.
In USA the Anglo protegee , they attempted to isolate you and make you seem as if you are crazy to the group, even secretly giving you drug substance. And many arrested spent many years in solitary confinement, to induce madness. In today's rebellion it is smart not to appear as if there are leaders
Why would the MOTU want to end the riots at all? It doesn't seem to play into any of the grand plans bandied about.
The middle class needs to scream for protection from the police state so it can be bolstered and grown and paid for. Then as they slowly sink below the poverty line, they will realize they funded and clamored for their own jailors empowerment.
The riots/looting/criminal behavior is a needed tool for "long-term social order," you can't build a police state without a compelling desire for it.
The masters of the universe haven't formed anything remotely approaching a consensus (much less a grand plan) for livestock management on this scale. It is the magnitude of the challenge combined with the lack of consensus - that yields a degree of complexity - trending I believe - in the direction of localized anarchy - and thence world war - rather than long-term, steady, police-state substitution for surplus labor value i.e., the middle class.
There are just too many vulnerabilities in this system that you humans have contrived, that are ready made for terrifying exploitation by "nature".
You humans have contrived - love it Doc - Yes, The Middle Class asked for the Police State, and we got it. Orwell spoke of it well
We of the sinking middle class may sink without further struggles into the working class where we belong, and probably when we get there it will not be so dreadful as we feared, for, after all, we have nothing to lose.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/view-to-a-kill/
The Hanging - Orwell
The masters of the universe are actually incompetent idiots. If they were evil geniuses, world population would be under 2 billion and we'd have colonies in space.
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