Chief Constable Michael Fuller said:

‘I commissioned a full strategic review following the initial Climate Camp debrief report by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).  The report was commissioned through the NPIA and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and conducted by Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt, South Yorkshire Police. The final document was passed to me on 14 July 2009.

‘I have been keen throughout this process to ensure that any learning from the Kent operation also assists with the current debate around the policing of protests and I have shared our experiences with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC), Mr Denis O’Connor, for part of his wider review of this area of policing activity. 

• View the full report (PDF, 855k)
• View the Climate Camp debrief (PDF, 206k)
• View the compendium of information (PDF, 475k)

Areas of good practice

‘I am pleased to note that the review highlighted numerous areas of good practice. These included our approach to community engagement, the information pack for visiting forces, traffic management, knowledge and understanding of the sites we were dealing with, intelligence updates, and advance planning and in-force exercise to test our resourcing and contingencies.

Areas for learning

‘I also recognise the report identifies several areas for learning. While many of the recommendations made to us have already been adopted in the intervening twelve months, there is still work to be done either within Kent or in conjunction with other forces or agencies. On that basis I have asked Assistant Chief Constable Andy Adams, who is relatively new to the force, to lead on ensuring all recommendations are properly addressed. This process will be overseen by the Kent Police Authority.

‘We have to remember that from the outset, Climate Camp was an illegal mass trespass, at short notice and without the co-operation of protest organisers. The publicly declared aim of some protesters was to break into Kingsnorth Power Station, an action which could have had the consequence of disrupting power supplies to a great number of people in Kent. Despite this, Kent Police facilitated the protest over nearly a fortnight, with the help of other forces from all over the country.

‘The police operation itself was very successful in preventing criminality and harm while at the same time, enabling a protest around an issue of genuine public concern to go ahead.  It was a largely peaceful protest with no significant incursion to the site and no interruption to power supply.  There were no serious injuries to protesters, police or the public.

Telephone survey

‘In March 2009, to try and establish the overarching public feeling around the way Climate Camp had been policed, we conducted an independent telephone survey with members of the public. Respondents were chosen at random from households in the Hoo Peninsula. 75 per cent of the respondents felt that Kent Police handled the event effectively and the majority of respondents (84 per cent) reported having confidence in Kent Police to deal with these type of events.

‘While we feel that these results and the report given to us by South Yorkshire contain some very positive elements, we know there is an opportunity to learn.  We, and all other forces are keen to gain from this report to improve the way all large-scale events are policed in the future.  We believe the review will help mould the way these types of events are dealt with nationally. 

Other large scale events

‘Recently, Kent Police has been very successful in the policing of high profile and large-scale events.  For example, our plans for the Armed Services day at Chatham were commended and the event ran without incident, while a recent protest at Kingsnorth (on 4 July) passed off without any problems and involved full and ongoing communication with the organisers in order to achieve the balance between the right to protest and that of upholding the law.

‘We are still awaiting for a date for the Judicial Review into three individuals' stop and searches during the Climate Camp event and it would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on this aspect of the reports findings at this time.’

Posted on: 22 July 2009