Police Federation of England and Wales response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights report

28 July 2009

 

Simon Reed, Vice Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:

“The Joint Committee on Human Rights report raises some interesting ways for dealing with planned major protests, including the introduction of independent negotiators, which I am sure will form part of the considerations being given by the HMIC at this time. We are pleased the Committee see the merit of the tactic of containment, and whilst every effort is made to take individual circumstances into account, for operational reasons that is not always possible. As for a legal requirement for police officers to wear identification numbers, this is an unnecessary overreaction when police regulations already address this very issue. We agree that distorted reporting by the media needs remedying quickly but unfortunately the nature of the beast is that they only choose to report what they wish to. Perhaps more stringent media guidelines that do not in any way suppress the freedom of the press should be considered to ensure fair and impartial reporting.”

 

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