"Review of the Policing of Public Protest"

Please see attached documents from Stephen Wells.

Janet Crowl

HMIC

PS to Stephen Wells

0207 035 2020

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Mr. David Hansen
[FOI #12744 email]

Our Ref: CR12076

Date: 30th July 2009

Dear Mr. Hansen,

Thank you for your email dated the 17th June 2009 in which you requested
an Internal Review into your Freedom of Information Act request to Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary concerning the 'Review of the
Policing of Public Protest'.

I have been allocated your request for an Internal Review as an
independent official of the Home Office who was not involved in
answering your original request. I apologise for the fact that I have
not been able to contact you before now.

I note from your email that you are requesting this Internal Review
because of the formatting of HMIC's response to your original request in
that you wished this response to be sent in a plain-text format.

I have therefore resent their original response, including their
attached document, in a plain-text email that will directly follow this
email. If you are still unable to view this response, please contact me
at your convenience.

We have not conducted a full Internal Review into the response to this
request as it appears that their response has answered your request in
full, and that it was answered within the twenty working day limit
specified in s10(1) of this Act.

If you do not believe that this is the case or are not satisfied with
this response, please contact me and we will conduct a further review.

More information pertinent to your request may be available on the HMIC
website - http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/h...

Yours sincerely,

Ian Lister
Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

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Mr Hansen,

As per my previous email, below is a plain text copy of your original
response and, below that, the document to that response.

**ORIGINAL RESPONSE LETTER**

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
Ground Floor, Ashley House, 2 Monck Street, London SW1P 2BQ
Direct Line: 0207 035 2022 Fax: 0207 035 2176

Stephen Wells
Head of Services

David
Hansen

www.whatdotheyknow.com
17 June 2009

Dear Mr Hansen

REVIEW OF THE POLICING OF PUBLIC PROTEST: HMIC REFERENCE HMIC/FOI/2009/6

I am replying to the freedom of information request you made of HMIC on
2 June. I am the chief administrator in HMIC and I handle freedom of
information matters; I am not directly involved with the Review.

I should begin by saying that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
is not a public body specified in the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
However, we have chosen to operate as if we were, for two reasons:
first, our "host" Department, the Home Office, is so specified, and
secondly as it is our policy to publish almost all of our reports.

You posed five questions, and I believe that you will find that most are
answered by the attached extract from our website. This was placed
there on 12 May. In addition, you asked for information about those
being consulted, and those conducting the Review. On your first point,
we have set out to draw comments from those major protest groups which
were present at the G20 demonstration, and individual participants or
observers and the media, either by making contact with them or by
responding to approaches made to the Review team.

As to the Review team itself, the Review is being conducted under the
general direction (as is all HMIC work) of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector
of Constabulary, Denis O'Connor. The Review team itself is led by Nick
Brook, a senior civil servant on secondment from the Home Office.
Senior advisers to the Review team include two HMIC Assistant Inspectors
of Constabulary, Vic Towell and Jo Kaye; and the human rights adviser
Jane Gordon. Other senior members of the Review team are Chief
Superintendent Nicola Grevatt, Detective Superintendent Laurence Carr,
Superintendent Moira Munro and Chief Inspector Julia Pink, who are all
on secondment to HMIC from the Police Service. Each of these officers
has experience in operational policing.

An External Reference Group is playing a critical part in ensuring
impartiality of the review process. The group is drawn from a broad
spectrum of interested groups and includes representation from Human
Rights Groups, the media, academics, Government Departments and the
police.

Its remit is to provide support and challenge to the review team and to
develop critical thinking and ensure that the review draws from
divergent views and that the conclusions are sound and evidenced based.

In addition, the team has a number of less senior police officers who
are in the Police Service's Higher Potential Development Scheme, and
there is a small administrative resource.

I hope you find this information helpful. If you are dissatisfied with
this response you may request an independent review of our handling of
your request by submitting your complaint within two months to:

Information Rights Team
Information and Record Management Service
Home Office
4th Floor, Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF.

During the independent review our handling of your information request
will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with
this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal
review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information
Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Act.

Stephen Wells
Head of Services

**ATTACHED DOCUMENTATAION**

Terms of Reference - Review of the Policing of Public Protest

HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORATE OF CONSTABULARY REVIEW OF THE POLICING OF
PUBLIC PROTEST

TERMS OF REFERENCE

OVERVIEW
HMIC will conduct a review of the public order tactics deployed in
response to significant protests involving disorder or the threat of
disorder. This process will be informed by examining the tactics adopted
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) during the G20 London Summit,
one of the largest policing operations to have taken place anywhere in
the United Kingdom, and other relevant experiences of policing protest
both nationally and internationally.

HMIC will engage in consultation and debate with key stakeholders and
the public regarding the policing of protest. The aim of the HMIC report
will be to test the arguments for and against the use of police public
order tactics from public, legal and operational perspectives.

The review will consider emerging evidence against the acknowledged
principles of British policing - public consent, minimal use of force
and individual accountability, and highlight any tensions between these
and operational practice.

OBJECTIVES
Through consideration of public, legal and operational perspectives the
review will:

1. Assess the effectiveness and impact of public order tactics deployed
in response to significant protests involving disorder or the threat of
disorder, specifically:
* containment
* use of force
* liaison with media
* communication with public and protesters

2. Identify difficulties and barriers to the successful implementation
of those tactics

3. Examine the overall direction of public order goals, strategies and
tactics in dealing with such protests and demonstrations, against the
acknowledged principles of British policing

APPROACH
The review will examine:

1. The operational and legal context (including human rights
legislation) for policing major protests

2. MPS operating framework for G20 in relation to both planning, and
command and control arrangements

3. Specific public order tactics and measures used to police G20
protests

4. Public opinion of strategy and tactics employed in relation to G20
and policing protest generally

5. Key stakeholder views in relation to G20 and policing protest
generally

6. National and international approaches to policing major protests

7. Operational debriefing processes for policing protest

In the interim stage the review will predominately focus on tactics used
to police the G20 protests. Consideration will be given to emerging
findings for wider examination within the final report, in consultation
with a wide range of people.

OUT OF SCOPE OF REVIEW
All matters relating to specific incidents or individuals subject to
investigation by the MPS or the IPCC are excluded from this review.
However, such incidents may provide contextual background to any
findings or recommendations.

GOVERNANCE
This is an independent public review, requested by the MPS Commissioner.
Copies of the report, both interim and final, will be provided to the
MPS, Home Secretary, MPA, ACPO, APA, IPCC and published on the HMIC
website.

External Reference Group:
Review methodology and emerging findings will be tested with an external
reference group, drawn from the broad spectrum of interested groups. It
will include representation from Human Rights Groups, the Media,
Academics, Government Departments and the Police.(1)

TIMESCALE
Interim Report June 30th
Final report September 30th

(1) Reference Group Membership will be found on HMIC website when full
membership has been established.

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Mr. Hansen,

I write further to our correspondence at the end of July concerning the
handling of your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act regarding the Review of the policing of public protest.
You requested that this review focus on the response given to the third
part of your request.

Unfortunately, the review process for your request is still ongoing and
is taking longer than anticipated. So it is with regret that I write to
inform you that I am not in a position to be able to provide you with
the full findings of our Internal Review at this time.

The Home Office aims to complete your review and provide you with a
response as soon as possible. I would therefore like to advise you that
the revised deadline to respond in full to your Internal Review is now
the 5th November 2009.

I hope this delay does not inconvenience you unduly. Please contact me
if you have any questions about your request or this review.

Sincere regards,

Ian

Ian Lister
Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

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Dear Mr Hansen,

Please see the attached in relation to your Freedom of Information request
(internal review).

Kind regards,

S Goddard

Information Access Team

Home Office

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.