Student protests: pressure mounts on Met police chief
Sir Paul Stephenson faces increasing pressure after footage emerges of a police officer not wearing ID at this week's protests
* Adam Gabbatt and Polly Curtis
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 12 December 2010 19.10 GMT
Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson faces mounting pressure after footage emerged showing an officer policing Thursday's student protests not wearing identification.
Following the G20 protests last year, during which Ian Tomlinson died after being pushed to the ground by a police officer not wearing ID, Stephenson said it was "absolutely unacceptable" for officers to cover or remove their shoulder tags bearing identification numbers.
However, a video taken by one of the protesters at the London demonstration clearly shows one officer not displaying her numerals.
The footage emerged as reports said Stephenson had offered to resign in the wake of this week's protests, with the Met heavily criticised after a protester was left requiring brain surgery due to allegedly being struck by a police baton, and protesters were able to attack a car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Today the home secretary, Theresa May, confirmed there was "contact" between Camilla and one of the protesters, reportedly involving the wife of the heir-to-the-throne being poked with a stick.
May, who insisted she had not considered resigning in the wake of the incidents, would not rule out using water cannons to control protesters in the future, insisting "it is right that we look across the board at all the options that are available".
Video footage showing the police officer not wearing identification was recorded by Chris Dowdeswell, a 27-year-old web developer from Gloucester, and posted to Youtube.
"We were in the kettle from the beginning on Parliament Square," Dowdeswell said.
"We were walking to the different police lines trying to find out what was going on, and someone told me we should go and film this one officer who was without her lapel numbers, without her identifying marks.
"When we questioned her at first, this is just before we started filming, she said: 'I'm a human being, not a fucking number'."
Dowdeswell, who runs the Brutal Cops website which aims to draw attention to police corruption and violence, said after he began filming the officer she "looked awkward and embarrassed".
Shown the footage by the Guardian yesterday, a spokesman for the Met said the force would investigate why the officer was not wearing her identification tags.
"All officers were briefed before the demonstration that their shoulder numbers should remain visible at all times," he said.
"The demonstration command team is now aware of this footage. The Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed and steps are being taken to identify the officer in question, and obtain an explanation."
The Met commissioner also promised to take "proportionate" disciplinary action against those officers who did not carry their ID badges at those demonstrations.
His comments were echoed by the chief inspector of constabulary, Denis O'Connor, who said it was "utterly unacceptable" for officers not wearing their numerals. "I would expect people in public order and other situations to wear their numbers … it acts as a good check and balance," he said.
A spokesman for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary – the government body which assesses the performance of the police – said it could not launch an investigation of its own accord, but would have to be commissioned, in this case by either the Met or the Home Office.
The Sunday Times today reported that Stephenson offered to resign after Prince Charles' Rolls Royce was attacked on Oxford Street, a source telling the newspaper that the commissioner had "made it clear that if [the palace] thought he should resign, he would do so".
Theresa May, who is due to make a statement to MPs regarding the policing of Thursday's protests today (Mon), described the incident as "incredibly regrettable" in an interview with Sky News and praised Charles and Camilla for fulfilling their engagement.
"The Metropolitan Police are looking into the details of that incident to find out exactly how it arose and of course they will be wanting to learn the lessons from that," she said.
Police were also criticised after a 20-year-old student, Alfie Meadows, underwent a three-hour operation to treat bleeding on the brain after allegedly being hit on the head by a truncheon. Yesterday his mother, Susan Matthews, claimed that when Meadows was taken to Chelsea and Westminster hospital police objected to him being treated there as it was being used to treat injured officers.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has since launched an investigation into the incident. Meadows, a philosophy student at Middlesex University, is said to have so-far made a good recovery from the operation, with his mother, Susan Matthews, saying "he's improving day by day".
Today police released images of 14 people they want to speak to following clashes during the demonstration, asking the public to help identify those pictured. The appeal came as Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave, was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and attempted criminal damage after he was photographed swinging from a flag attached to the Cenotaph on Whitehall on Thursday.
He is the 35th person to have been arrested following involvement in Thursday's protest. A total of 176 people have been arrested in the four protests so far.
Student protests: pressure mounts on Met police chief | UK news | The Guardian
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that's why we got soaring unemployment and China has foreign reserves in excess of $2 T... Not to mention Gvts that are effectively broke. Global trade/globalisation worked so well for the North and so badly for the South...
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