Police territorial support teams, used at demonstrations and marches, involved in previous controversy
[guardian.co.uk] Officers from the Metropolitan police’s
specialist territorial support teams are at the centre of
investigations over the use of unprovoked violence during the G20
protests.
Both of the officers who have been suspended in the
last week were part of the force’s territorial support group (TSG), a
unit of 720 officers who operate in mobile squads to combat serious
public disorder, work with other officers to tackle high-volume crime,
provide the expertise to force entry into buildings, and carry out
anti-terrorist arrests and stop and searches.
As the Independent
Police Complaints Commission began an independent investigation into a
TSG sergeant seen on the most recent video using his gloved hand to hit
a female member of the public, the Met chief, Sir Paul Stephenson,
announced that he had asked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
to review public order policing tactics in the light of the G20. He
also ordered a review of all footage held by the police in order to
establish whether any other officers should be subject to investigation.
Privately,
Stephenson has in the last two days sent all his officers a
morale-boosting video message saying that they should continue their
good work. He labels Ian Tomlinson’s death a "tragedy" and notes that
while the controversy goes on into the policing of G20, a Metropolitan
police officer injured last weekend in a separate incident still lies
in hospital fighting for his life.
While trying to allay public
concern over the G20 policing, Stephenson in his private message was
addressing frustration within the Met rank and file that the policing
of one demonstration, out of hundreds, has so spectacularly backfired.
Some
rank and file officers, particularly those experienced in public order
policing, said that the latest video footage of the TSG sergeant
striking a woman was being viewed out of context.
At least one
public order officer pointed out that striking someone with the back of
a forearm or hand was a defensive tactic all officers in those
circumstances are taught to use. TSG officers are trained to the
highest levels in public order, and as such attract higher levels of
complaints than other officers because they are dealing with fraught,
tense, difficult situations, according to a police source.
But
the TSG has been involved in serious controversy in the past. A judge
said last month that six TSG officers had carried out a "serious,
gratuitous and prolonged" attack on a terrorism suspect, Babar Ahmed,
six years ago. The team of six officers involved in the attack on
Ahmed, who was arrested at his home by the TSG unit, had already been
at the centre of as many as 60 complaints about unwarranted assaults on
black or Asian men, the Guardian has revealed.
None of the
officers involved in the assault on Ahmed has been disciplined and five
of them are still working in the territorial support group. The Met
said at the time that the complaints were investigated and found to be
unsubstantiated.
According to The Job, the force’s in-house
magazine, TSG officers – who can be identified by a "U" on shoulder
epaulette numbers – are better known as the "tough guys and girls" of
the Met.
When policing events in which disorder is foreseen, they
are issued with "Nato" helmets, flame-retardant overalls, stab vests,
gloves, balaclavas and boots. All carry the standard batons, pepper
spray and cuffs, but are also authorised to use tasers, and
firearm-trained TSG officers carry pistols or submachine guns.
TSG officers operate in units of three Mercedes vanloads, each of which comprise six constables and a sergeant.
On the day of the G20 protest
their role would have been defined by the main "gold" commanders who
drew up the policing operation and stated in the days before G20 that
the Met were "up for it". On-the-ground decisions in what was a fluid
fast-moving situation would have been made by "bronze" commanders.
The
TSG was created in 1987 after the controversy over its predecessor, the
special patrol group, which received a number of complaints of police
brutality. These complaints culminated in the death of schoolteacher
Blair Peach, who was fatally injured in April 1979 during a
demonstration in Southall, west London, by the Anti-Nazi League against
a National Front march.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
