Wow, just being human doesn't count for much with you, seshme? Based on your definition, I guess I serve no purpose to society either...Good thing I don't agree with your definition. Everyone serves a purpose...
A fourth independent inquiry has been launched into claims of police brutality during the G20 protests.
Officials at the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a woman has claimed she was assaulted while held in a "kettle".
The alleged incident took place when police contained a group in an alleyway connecting Bishopsgate and Great St Helen's on April 1. The probe is one of four ongoing investigations into claims of police violence during demonstrations in the City of London.
not related to the g20, just more police brutality ...
Mobile phone video shows police tasering and punching suspect three times
A video taken on a mobile phone shows how police repeatedly tasered and punched a man as they arrested him in a crowded town centre last night.
The video shows how two officers use the taser gun to keep the man on the ground.
The man rolls around on the floor in agony after one officer urges his colleagues to stand back before tasering him. The suspect's body jumps when the electric shock from the gun is administered.
The officers are then joined by two more colleagues and the footage shows four men then keeping the man, who is writhing slowly, down on the ground.
As they try to keep him down - although he does not appear to be violently struggling - he is tasered for a second time and an officer to the right of the frame appears to viciously punch the suspect in the head three times.
A crowd of 30 to 40 people quickly gathered - and started questioning the police's tactics. A woman behind the camera is heard to say: "Look at his face, did you get that? He don't look like he is resisting."
The arrest occurred in outside the Theatre Royal on Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham, last night.
Towards the end of the footage, an officer is also seen shoving back a bystander who came forward to look at the suspect on the ground.
The video was given to local radio station Trent FM and has also been posted on YouTube.
Nottingham Police have seen the video and said they are looking into it.
Taser guns - which consist of two darts on the end of wires containing a 50,000 volt shock - can be lethal.
According to guidelines from the Association of Chief Police Officers, they must not be used indiscriminately.
Guidelines issued to forces state: 'The use of taser is one of a number of tactical options available to an officer who is faced with violence or the threat of violence.
'Its purpose is to temporarily incapacitate an individual in order to control the threat that they pose.
'It must not be used to inflict severe pain or suffering in the performance of official duties.'
MPs condemn police tactics at G20 protest Keep untrained officers off frontline at demos, says highly critical Commons committee report
Untrained officers must never again be put in the frontline of policing public protests, according to a highly critical MPs' report on the G20 protests published today.
The conclusion from the Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into the G20 protests of April 1 follows admissions from senior Metropolitan police officers that some inexperienced officers, who were clearly quite scared, used "inappropriate force".
The report by the cross-party group of MPs says they "cannot condone the use of untrained, inexperienced officers on the frontline of a public protest under any circumstances".
Their inquiry also calls for the police to seriously consider whether they can continue with the use of tactics such as kettling – containing protesters behind cordons for a sustained period of time – and the controlled use of force against those who appear hostile without first holding a public debate over the future of policing public protests.
During the G20 protests the Met repeatedly attempted to "kettle" thousands of mainly peaceful demonstrators .
The technique is widely believed to have sparked angry confrontations with protesters, who complained that they were penned in for hours and subjected to baton charges.
Officers in charge of the Met's public order operations have been lobbying hard to retain the kettling tactic, which they regard as an effective method of preventing unruly protests from spreading through large areas of a city.
The select committee stops short of commenting on the death of the newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson or the case of Nicola Fisher, who was struck across the face by a police sergeant. But the MPs say that the images and film footage of those incidents shocked the public and have the potential to undermine trust in the police. They hoped the incidents would mark the start of a widespread debate on the use of force by the police.
"The basic principle that the police must remember is that protesters are not criminals – the police's doctrine must remain focused on allowing protest to happen peacefully," said Keith Vaz, the committee chairman.
"In many ways this was a large protest which passed off remarkably well. But it is clear that concerns about the policing of the G20 protests have damaged the public's confidence in the police and that is a great shame."
He said the ability of the public and the media to monitor every single action of the police through CCTV, mobile phones and video equipment means they have to take even greater care to ensure that all their actions are justifiable.
"There must not be a repetition of this – never again must untrained officers be placed on the frontline of public protest."
The report describes the policing of the G20 protests as a "remarkably successful operation" in which more than 35,000 demonstrated in the centre of London yet with the minimum of disruption to the City: "Aside from a few high-profile incidents, the policing of the G20 protests passed without drama," say the MPs before adding that an element of luck played a part in that success.
The MPs repeat their belief that there are no circumstances in which it is acceptable for police officers not to wear their identification numbers and urge those who consciously remove them to face the strongest disciplinary action.
During the Commons inquiry, Commander Bob Broadhurst, the "gold commander" in charge of the G20 policing operation, told the MPs that there had not been any large-scale disorder in London for a number of years of the kind seen summer after summer in the 1980s and 1990s: "That means I now have a workforce of relatively young people that we draw on who are policing Sutton High Street one day and the next day called into central London."
He said there were 2,500 officers who had only two days of public order training a year and the vast majority of whom had never faced a situation as violent as the G20 protest before.
"That may also be why one or two of them, as you have seen on television, may have used inappropriate force at times ... I would probably say that was probably more fear and lack of control, whereas our experience in the past is the more we experience these things, the less quick officers are to go to the use of force because they understand more the dynamics," he said.
The MPs say the risk of relying so heavily on untrained, inexperienced officers in such a highly combustible atmosphere must never be taken again.
Their report also confirms criticisms of police communications with the media and with the protesters and question why it took the personal intervention of Broadhurst to relay the message that the press should be let out of the cordons.
The MPs' findings are published ahead of a report by Denis O'Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary, in which senior police officers will be told they must use "reasonable discretion" when containing large numbers of protesters. O'Connor was asked to carry out a national review of public order policing by the Metropolitan police commissioner in April. He is due to publish his findings this week.
O'Connor is considering whether to endorse a "human rights-based" approach to policing advocated by Sir Hugh Orde, the incoming chief of the Association of Chief Police Officers. Orde is promoting a model of policing protest developed in Northern Ireland that sees greater emphasis placed on communicating with protesters and facilitating their right to protest.
However, Orde's position, which gives protesters more freedom to roam, is considered soft by some senior Met officers.
G20 police authorised to use force minutes before Ian Tomlinson died Report finds serious failings in policing of protests and demands far-reaching overhaul of tactics
Metropolitan police commanders at the G20 demonstrations ordered officers to clear the streets of protesters using "reasonable force" if necessary, minutes before a police constable attacked the newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson, it emerged tonight.
Decisions taken by senior Met officers in the lead-up to Tomlinson's death were set out for the first time in an official report today into the policing operation at the protests in the City of London.
The report, by Denis O'Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary, found serious failings in the Met's policing operation and recommended a far-reaching overhaul of the way protests are policed in the future. Nationwide tactics for policing protests are outdated and inadequate, and pay insufficient regard to human rights obligations, it said.
The previously unseen police logs from 1 April include two tactical orders that shed light on events surrounding Tomlinson's death and more than 50 complaints made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about alleged excessive force.
At 12.20pm, soon after the protests at the Bank of England had started, a Met Bronze commander, responsible for operational tactics on the ground, sowed confusion by ordering that police cordons placed around protesters in the so-called "kettle" should be "absolute cordons with discretion".
O'Connor's report described the instruction as "confusing and difficult to implement" for officers, who had to handle crowds that were far larger than senior officers had expected.
The report also revealed how senior officers met later in the day, after the most serious clashes had dissipated, to discuss how to manage a crowd that was assessed by police as "hostile, with continuing sporadic outbreaks of violence".
Senior officers decided that from 7pm "reasonable force would be used" to clear the streets of those who did not leave the area voluntarily. At 7.15pm, Tomlinson, who had been prevented from passing three police cordons as he tried to find a route home, was struck from behind and pushed to the ground by a Met officer who has since been suspended. His widow, Julia, said tonight that the commander's logs had made difficult reading. "They ordered that Ian could not leave and they ordered the use of force," she said. "If Ian is to get justice it means then all the officers who played a role in his death are made to account for what they did."
O'Connor stopped short of arguing that kettling should be abandoned. But he found commanders did not understand their legal duties when they decided to contain thousands of protesters at the Bank of England and the Climate Camp, in nearby Bishopsgate.
Warning of the consequences if senior officers ignored his advice, O'Connor said there could be more disruption on the streets, police forces challenged in court and a withdrawal of the public's consent to policing.
Sir Hugh Orde, the incoming president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the problems encountered by the Met might not have arisen if human rights had been put at the centre of operational decisions.
The Met accepted the recommendations and launched an urgent review of training and tactics at protests.
G20 death: police officer could face manslaughter charge
Prosecutors have been asked to consider whether the Metropolitan police officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstration should be charged with manslaughter.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced today that it had completed its criminal inquiry and handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will now evaluate whether there is enough evidence to bring charges and whether a trial would be in the public interest.
The focus of the IPCC inquiry was on an officer in the Met's territorial support group (TSG) caught on film striking Tomlinson with a baton and shoving him to the ground near the Bank of England on 1 April. Moments later he collapsed and died of internal bleeding.
Central to the evidence being considered by the director of public prosecutions is a video of the attack, which was shot by a New York hedge fund manager and broadcast by the Guardian. The footage triggered the criminal inquiry by the IPCC, and a wholesale review of national policing strategy at demonstrations.
Today, relatives of Tomlinson urged prosecutors to act quickly and to charge the officer so that a jury could be presented with all the evidence surrounding the death of the newspaper vendor.
His widow, Julia, said: "Video footage made it clear to us, and everyone else, that Ian was the victim of an unprovoked assault by a police officer. If there is going to be any justice then it must be left for a jury to decide if the police officer is guilty of killing Ian.
"I hope the CPS will get the case in front of a jury as soon as possible."
The officer, understood to be a van driver in the TSG, was questioned by IPCC investigators under caution for manslaughter in April.
No police officer has ever been successfully convicted for manslaughter for actions committed while executing his or her duty.
Anyone charged and convicted of manslaughter faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Ian Tomlinson had been attempting to find a route home from work through the protests when he was attacked from behind at 7.20pm next to the Royal Exchange buildings, near the Bank of England. He had his hands in his pockets and was walking away from lines of police.
The badge numbers of the officer who struck him were covered, and his face was concealed beneath a balaclava. The officer walked away after striking Tomlinson and none of his colleagues went to the 47-year-old's aid. He was helped to his feet by a bystander, but collapsed and died moments later.
The IPCC was heavily criticised for waiting six days before launching a criminal inquiry into Tomlinson's death. Today it said the case was one of the largest it had ever undertaken – more than 40 IPCC investigators and other members of staff from all five regional offices were involved in the case, it said.
Investigators have sifted through 1,200 hours of footage, and drafted experts in computerised scene reconstruction and video enhancement to analyse material.
"Much of the video evidence we have passed to the CPS was collected by members of the public on cameras or mobile phones," said Deborah Glass, the IPCC commissioner for London. A total of 193 members of the public, as well as police officers and staff, and medical experts, were interviewed as part of the inquiry.
The IPCC is still conducting a second inquiry into whether the Met and City of London police misled the public over his death. In statements to the press, police claimed attempts by the police to save Tomlinson's life by resuscitation had been impeded by protesters.
Police initially told Tomlinson's wife and nine children he died of a heart attack after being caught up in the demonstration. After watching the video of the attack, a senior City of London investigator told the family Tomlinson's assailant could have been a member of the public "dressed in police uniform".
An early postmortem examination concluded that Tomlinson died of a heart attack. Police released a statement that he "died of natural causes" on the way home from work, but failed to mention the numerous injuries the pathologist had found on his body, including bruises, lacerations and large amounts of blood in his stomach.
A second examination concluded that he died of internal bleeding in the stomach. The forensic pathologist who conducted the first postmortem has since been suspended from an accredited government register of experts, pending two investigations into his conduct.
The IPCC said today it had also asked the CPS to consider charges against a second TSG officer. A sergeant, he is accused of assaulting two women in the space of 24 hours, one of whom – protester Nicola Fisher – he was caught on film striking at a memorial vigil for Tomlinson.
IPCC tells police to change way they control public protests Watchdog says senior officers must review public order training and allow vulnerable people to leave protest areas
Police must make immediate changes to the way they control public protests, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said today.
Senior officers must review public order training, warn participants of their plans and allow vulnerable people to leave protest areas, the watchdog said.
The call was made as the IPCC released its findings (pdf) from an inquiry launched after a woman claimed she was assaulted during the G20 demonstrations in London earlier this year.
The 23-year-old said she was left with bruising on her arms and legs and heavy intimate bleeding after being forced to leave the climate camp, a spontaneous demonstration near the Bank of England, on 1 April.
Officials found that officers had used their shields to try and move the crowd backwards – a tactic that has not been approved nationally by senior officers.
IPCC officials concluded that the woman was forcibly pushed back by an officer using a "short shield", a tactic developed by the Metropolitan police.
They also found she was not allowed to leave the Bishopsgate area for up to five hours despite her heavy bleeding.
The woman told investigators her doctor said the bleeding may have been caused by a miscarriage, but she was not aware she may have been pregnant.
Medical staff were unable to confirm whether she had been pregnant.
Deborah Glass, of the IPCC, said: "While this young woman's alleged injuries were more serious than most, her experience appears to have been typical of many peaceful protesters on 1 April.
"She was caught up in what appears to have been a frightening experience over which she had little or no control.
"Like many others that day, she says she had no prior warning of the police intention to use force in containing the crowd, and no prior warning of a containment tactic that prevented her leaving."
Six inquiries were launched after complaints of police brutality during two days of clashes as world leaders met in London.
The operation also sparked a series of high-profile inquiries into police tactics, including the practice of penning in protesters for long periods.
Earlier this week, a file of evidence on the death of Ian Tomlinson was passed from IPCC investigators to the Crown Prosecution Service.
They must now decide whether a Metropolitan police constable who was caught on camera hitting the newspaper seller and pushing him to the ground should be prosecuted.
The officer, a member of the force's territorial support group, has been interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter.
The precise events of the last minutes of Tomlinson's life remain unclear after two pathologists disagreed over what caused him to die.
His widow called on the CPS to let a jury decide what role, if any, the officer had played in his death.
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