New report exposes the militarised nature of British policing
Campaign Against Arms Trade and Netpol have released a report exposing the militarised nature of British policing. A Very British Problem: The Evolution of Britain’s Militarised Policing Industrial Complex exposes the increasingly blurry line between the police and the military. It further shows that a war mentality has infiltrated policing – from counter-terrorism to anti-protest policing to border control to the policing of gangs. The report focuses on several key areas. These include the paramilitary policing of protests; border control and counter terrorism; surveillance; the private tech sector; and Britain’s global role in militarised policing.
The report busts the myth that the police in the UK govern, or have ever governed by consent. It lays out, what those from marginalised communities know all too well, that institutionalised and structural racism results in over policing, excessive force and disproportionate criminalisation. ● Even before the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (PCSC), the police used their powers to excessively surveil and repress protest and label activists as domestic extremists or aggravated activists. The undercover policing scandal shows the lengths the police will go to to spy on and disrupt anyone dissenting from the status quo – whether that’s anti-arms trade protesters, families for justice campaigners or environmental activists.