5 Conclusion
57. A theme implicit in our consideration of policing
and protest issues has been the tension between the broad discretion
given to police officers in dealing with public order issues and
ensuring compliance with the UK's human rights obligations. We
noted in para xx an example of the Government having a clear policy
in relation to the use of counter-terrorism powers which has not
always been consistently followed by police forces. The use of
containment raises this issue in a different way. Containment
raises human rights issues of sufficient importance that they
will be considered by the European Court of Human Rights, but
the Government's view is that the use of containment is a tactical
matter for the police to decide.[150]
The Minister described police training on human rights as "essential"
but also said "I cannot dictate to the police what training
they should or should not do".[151]
58. This raises three issues of general concern.
The first concerns establishing the proper role for the Government
in setting statutory boundaries for the police, so that police
officers can exercise discretion without cutting across Government
policy or contravening human rights legislation. We are not convinced
that the Government is clear what its role should be. ACPO is
taking on an increasingly important role as an informal regulatory
body for police forces - producing guidance on public order and
other operational matters: to what extent is it answerable to
the Home Office for the advice it provides?
59. Secondly, a key finding of our inquiry into policing
and protest concerned the importance of leadership on human rights
matters. Police forces seem to be heading in the right direction
and we particularly welcome the forthcoming appointment of Sir
Hugh Orde as President of ACPO, given his record on human rights
in Northern Ireland.[152]
We look forward to continuing engagement with ACPO, the Home Office
and individual police forces to ensure that human rights become
fully integrated into police policy, training and guidance and
operational decision making.
60. Finally, the section of this report on the importance
of being able to identify police officers draws attention to the
importance of police accountability. The police serve our community
and must be fully accountable to it. Public trust in the police
can be seriously damaged where accountability is seen to be lacking.
It is for this reason, as well as to gain some perspective on
the development of police thinking on public order issues, that
we wrote to Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissoner
on 9 June, calling for the release of the report into the death
of Blair Peach, a protester killed in Southall in 1979. The modern
Metropolitan Police Service can have nothing to hide from discussion
of events which took place 30 years ago.
We note that the Metropolitan
Police Authority has also unanimously called for the Report to
be published, and that the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
has agreed in principle to make the report public. We recommend
that the Metropolitan Police publish the Cass report into the
death of Blair Peach without redaction, to help bring some closure
to the family and friends of Mr Peach and to initiate a debate
about how the policing of protest has improved and can improve
still further.
150 Qq 197, 200, 202, Back
151
Qq185, 219. Back
152
See Guardian, "New ACPO chief wants human rights to
be at the core of policing", 21 Jun 09. Back
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