3nd December 2011
Water Cannon and Baton Rounds – A Stark Militarisation of British Policing
Mark Hanson
News has come out this week that the Metropolitan Police, often regarded as the forefront of the British police forces despite each police force being independently run, is seriously considering purchasing three water cannons for use against any unrest in future.
The news, contained in a report in response to last August’s riots by the Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens and seen by both the Guardian and the Telegraph, would involve Scotland Yard co-owning the vehicles with other police forces in the South East and could be deployed anywhere in the region.
Although it must be stressed that no final decision has been made, the decision would, if implemented, mean that there would be an unprecedented escalation of police forcefulness and, along with an already announced increase in the number of officers deployed for the use of baton rounds, or plastic bullets, would mark an end to the British model of policing. Sir Hugh Orde, who is the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, wrote back in August after the UK riots had swept through the country that we must keep to “the British model of policing, premised on human rights and the minimum use of force. We police with consent and must be professional, proportionate, fair and justifiable to the public at all times.”
Yet it is disturbing that his words, coming from one of only two police chiefs in the UK with actual experience of using water cannon and baton rounds, is being drowned out by the calls for robustness, aggression and the deterrent effect being applied not only to criminality but to any who take part in dissension and political expression on the streets.
The desire for a robust approach is very understandable, and desirable, to maintain the peace and lawfulness of the country, yet there are dangers to this.
Over the past 30 years the police have acquired an increasing array of powers and have tools available to them to arrest and prosecute vast swathes of the country should they so want. Legislation outlawing insulting language, aggravated trespass and the expression of political dissent has grown in an almost exponential manner since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher launched an assault on the miners in the 1980’s.
The general attitude between protesters and the police is seemingly at an all-time low. It is not all the fault of the police, who have a difficult task at the best of times, yet the increasingly belligerent and aggressive manner of policing is furthering the decline. The police need to remember, as many indeed do, that part of their job is to facilitate protest and free expression, and not to act in an incendiary way.
The suggestions by the Met to bring European methods of policing to the streets of Britain is not only a dangerous move away from policing by consent, but could also further inflame tensions at protests already under the threat of summary open-air imprisonment and what is apparently a tactic of using snatch squads placed within protests.
Sir Hugh Orde should be listened to. He deployed both water cannon and baton rounds whilst he served in Northern Ireland, and it should not be forgotten that at that time the province was a virtual warzone, with permanently deployed soldiers and a constant barrage of attacks by the IRA and other paramilitaries. Even so, the use of rubber bullets was strongly criticised at the time despite the region being in a pseudo-state of armed conflict.
Baton rounds can kill. Water cannon can permanently blind.
In the words of Hugh Orde:
“Both [water cannon and baton rounds] require an extremely precise situation. The use of water cannon, while logistically difficult, works against large stationary crowds throwing missiles at police or, as I witnessed in Northern Ireland, at other communities. It achieves distance between police and unlawful crowds that is often vital.
“Utilising baton rounds, an even more severe tactic, is fundamentally to protect life. When I ordered their use, again in Northern Ireland, my officers were being attacked by blast bombs and live fire. I would always use both with a heavy heart, but it is always an issue of proportionality.”
And in the article Orde wrote at the time of the UK riots he makes the simple statement:
“Although I understand the enthusiasm of politicians and communities for robust measures, excessive force will destroy our model of policing in the long term. What we must hang on to in all of this is the British model of policing, premised on human rights and the minimum use of force. We police with consent and must be professional, proportionate, fair and justifiable to the public at all times.”
