Just Stop Oil Arrests Update

The report into Hertfordshire Police’s actions in arresting members of the media during recent Just Stop Oil actions has come out. We received a request for a response from reach plc and gave the following reply:

“The BPPA is pleased that the report confirms that no blame can be apportioned to the four members of the media who were wrongly arrested and detained. We have a number of criticisms of the report:

1. It makes no mention of the arrest of another press photographer at another JSO event the previous month by Surrey Police. This was clearly wrong and lessons need to be shared between forces -especially where they are working together on these larger operations.
2. There is no proper consideration of the duration of the detentions and the culpability of custody officers in not recognising those detained as being members of the press.
3. The search of one of the homes appears to have been authorised long after it must have been obvious that they were holding a legitimate member of the media who had repeatedly tried to point out that he held a UK Press Card.
4. The attempt to verify the UK Press Card several hours after the arrest was poorly conducted and the relevant information required was not sought from the holder. Had the verification been carried out before the arrest most of these problems could have been avoided.
5. The fifth and final recommendation says that “Hertfordshire Constabulary should consider ensuring that all officers engaged with public order activity complete the NUJ package and identified learning is shared.” It may well be dismissed as formal police language but when it says “should consider ensuring” rather than the more appropriate “must ensure” our concerns are nowhere near addressed.

We would highlight the following sections as being important:  

Point 3.6 of Chief Superintendent Jon Hutchinson’s report says that “Having reviewed the evidence and the information available to the officers at the time there seems to be a disconnect as to how they arrived at the outcome they did. The interactions of officers suggest that arrest was the likely outcome regardless of the information obtained”. Unpacking this we would suggest that members of the Hertfordshire Constabulary got it badly wrong.

We are also pleased that in section 6.1 the report notes that “All officers engaged with public order operations (including level three and all tiers of Command) are required to watch and complete the CoP National Union of Journalists (NUJ) video which explains the rights of reporters and photographers during public order situations. There is a requirement to refresh this every 3-years.” 

We note that in 6.3 the officers arresting two of the four members of the media were not compliant with that requirement. If this is representative of the level of compliance across this, or any other,  force then that is both worrying and disappointing. This point is emphasised in 9.5 where the report simply says that “It was believed that officers had a lack of understanding as to the role of the media and how they operate.”

Police powers were not used appropriately. Section 10.24 admits this and goes on to say that “There is evidence to suggest the potential for the arrests to amount to an ‘unlawful interference’ with the individual’s freedom of expression under Article 10 ECHR.”

The BPPA looks forward to working with the National Police Chiefs Council to reinforce the findings of this report and make sure that the correct training and procedures are followed in the future.”