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Contents

Introduction
If You Receive a Visit From the Police
Your Rights (England and Wales)

Introduction

In the run up to the mobilisations around the G8 summit there will be increased pressure on people involved in protesting activities both from the mainstream media and the police. Inevitably this will lead to individuals and groups being targeted by the state, especially those who are in publicly visible roles (or made so by the media).

A lot of this attention is not about ‘preventing crime’ but about intimidation and some intelligence gathering. As we get closer to the G8 itself we anticipate increased focusing on activists from all backgrounds and involvement. What we are strongly encouraging people is to expect this and be ready to deal with it.

Though we appreciate that coming under such attention whether at home or on the street is not pleasant (many of us have already been there), we believe it is vital that people in this situation should not allow the state to successfully intimidate in this fashion. By knowing your rights you can easily see off these attempts. In fact in many cases such visits or approaches actually tell us how poor police intelligence really is and that these attempts are more desperation than anything else.

The trick is to see through their basic intimidation to the fact that they actually have very little on us and it is we who are really in control. It is important to not become paranoid or overly concerned if you are on the receiving end of such a visit or approach. Allowing an approach by the police to put you off your activism is handing the state an easy and unnecessary victory. Ask yourself:

1. Just why are they doing this?
2. Are they really giving anything away by letting you know that they know your name and address?
3. If they were really watching you would they come out and let you know directly?

It is our opinion that these visits would seem to indicate that they don’t have very much information or ‘intelligence’ on those they visit. In fact they are actually fishing expeditions on their part and you should not be giving them any sort of information at all, no matter how innocent it may appear.

Finally, if you do give in to this pressure then you will encourage them in this tactic of harassment against activists in general. It is important that we stand up for our rights at

Below is a collection of advice applicable to England and Wales on what to do and what your rights are if approached by the police.

There have also been instances where police have visited the homes of activists to offer the “opportunity” to become an informer. The advice below applies to these visits as to any you receive from them, but for more see the article on Freebeagles.

If You Receive a Visit from the Police

If you are visited by the police in connection with anything to do with the G8, we recommend people to do the following:

• Do not get into conversations of any kind with the police, even if they appear cordial or friendly with you. You didn’t ask them to come to your door and they are not there to help you. Remember that their agenda is unlikely to be the same as yours no matter what they say to the contrary.
• Tell everyone, your friends, fellow activists etc. as soon as possible afterwards. The aim of these operations is to isolate and to intimidate. To make you think they are keeping a special eye on you. Do not be intimidated. There is nothing to be scared of. If the police thought you had broken the law they would simply arrest you, and take you to the police station, rather than perform a pantomime on your doorstep for your neighbours.
• Email the G8 Legal Support Group g8legalsupport@riseup.net with as many details as you have of what happened: ie. number of officers and their numbers if possible, what they said to you, if they gave you any correspondence or made you any ‘offers’.

Your Rights (England and Wales)

Visited at home

There are a number of options under which the police can enter your property, however in this situation we will focus only on the situation where they are arriving to “talk” to you as opposed to arresting you. In this case, unless they have a warrant, you do not have to admit them.

1. If you see them knock at the door simply don’t answer it.
2. If you do, inadvertently, open the door to them demand to see their warrant or if you are under arrest. If they do not produce it, close the door in their face. Avoid answering their questions and cut them off where they do not answer yours.
3. Remember, they do not have a general right of entry and you do not have to let them in. You are perfectly entitled to demand that they leave your premises (including gardens, etc). You are not required to be polite to them either, though do not swear at them.
4. For a guide on the rights of the police to enter your premises see here
5. Make a note of the time of the visit and the names/number of the officers involved.

Approached on the street

Much of the same principles as being visited at home. Unless they are: 1. arresting you, 2. searching you under some law, 3. seeking your details to give you a summons for an offence, 4. they have reasonable grounds to suspect you of anti-social behaviour you do not have to cooperate with them.

Remember, when being searched you are not always required to give your details. Note as well that the police will bluff on the law so if you challenge them directly to state the law they are hassling you under they will back down. Police will seize on any perceived doubt or weakness so show them that you are confident in facing them down even if you are nervous on the inside. It helps to remember that you are struggling for justice, while they are seeking to protect corrupt governments and destructive corporations. No matter what they say, they do not have your interests at heart.

Contrary to what they say, you are not required to carry ID or show it to them. Nor are you required to talk to them.

We strongly advise that do not engage in conversation with them, but walk away and seek out a crowded public place or friends. Avoid letting them isolate you. If necessary make a lot of noise and draw attention to yourself. If they suggest finding somewhere more private after they have identified themselves as police, refuse point blank and continue walking away.

If they continue to hassle you, inform them and demand their details so you can put in a complaint against their behaviour. Tell them politely that you have nothing to say to them and that they should leave you alone.

Once you have got rid of them, tell people about it, seek support and inform the G8 Legal Support Group. Keep in mind what we have said above about why they do this and not letting yourself be put off or intimidated by it.

For more detailed information on your rights and what you can do see this article especially sections 2 and 6.

We appreciate that these encounters are not particularly pleasant, but you can turn them on the head to have a laugh at them. If we treat them right then they can actually empower us. If you are feeling shaken by this event, consider talking to sympathetic activist friends or contacting the Activist Trauma group - see www.activist-trauma.net

Other Offences

Complicity and incomplete crimes
Complicity (art and part guilt)

If you deliberately assist another is committing a crime, whether by providing the means (e.g. spray paint), money, or advice, or acting as a look-out, you are guilty of the crime committed as if you committed it yourself. You are guilty “art and part” (English law uses the terms “aid and abet”). So if you buy a graffiti artist spray paint and encourage him to deface the Scottish Parliament and he goes on to do it, you are guilty of malicious mischief or vandalism. You must be all complicit in the acts, “guilt by association” is insufficient, and you must be acting towards a common purpose. Common purpose may be premeditated or spontaneous: it may be evidenced by an agreement or by people appearing to act according to a common plan. Such a purpose might be to commit something inherently criminal in itself, such as vandalising a shop. You may be seeking to do something that might be achieved lawfully (such as causing the G8 leaders to stop their meeting) but by unlawful means (e.g. through breaches of the peace, mobbing or aggravated trespass). In any case you are guilty of any crimes committed in which you knowingly assisted. If you assist in committing one type of offence you are also guilty of such other offences as may be reasonably foreseen as part of the common purpose. Judges and juries are likely to take a dim view as to what should be foreseen from those acting together unlawfully for political purposes. So if you agree to deface the Scottish Parliament as a group but one person ends up smashing a window, you are probably guilty of maliciously damaging the window. On the other hand if one of your number chooses to assault someone at the Parliament on the spur of the moment you should not be guilty of that assault.

Encouragement can make you art and part guilty but words by way of general advice are not enough. When abortion was illegal, a person was accused of being guilty art and part in causing an abortion by passing on a name of an abortionist to a pregnant mother. It was held that the accused was not guilty. Bearing this in mind, and the fact that common purpose is always difficult to establish, the law of art and part guilt should not be seen by activists as a licence for paranoia.

Attempts

If you try to commit a crime and fail, you are guilty of committing an attempted crime. A person who throws a brick at a window trying to smash it, but misses, is guilty of attempted malicious mischief or attempted vandalism. It is not enough that you were simply preparing to commit a crime. The test is whether you have resolved to carry out the crime so that your acts suggest you have started to “perpetrate” the crime. This is a difficult line to draw. So sticking your hand in a till to steal money is theft even if there is no money there. Joining a queue at a turnstile at a football match is attempting to enter a football ground when drunk (a statutory offence). But it would seem that the act of purchasing some spray paint from a shop with the plan of using it on the Scottish Parliament would probably not be enough.

Conspiracies

If you agree to help another commit a crime, you are automatically guilty of a conspiracy to commit that crime (e.g. a plan to thieve would be conspiracy to commit theft), even if you do not carry out your agreement. The law on this is similar to art and part guilt except no actual completed crime needs take place as a result. Again no proof of a written agreement, nor witnesses to a meeting where there is agreement, is necessary if your acts show that you’re acting according to a common plan. However conspiracy is not an easy charge to prove. Incitement/Instigation

Finally if you encourage someone to commit a crime you are guilty of incitement to commit a crime. Like art and part guilt general advice is not enough: actual instigation is necessary. Unlike art and part guilt you are still guilty if you fail to encourage anyone to commit any crime or even fail to get them to enter a conspiracy with you. Penalties

The maximum penalties in Scotland for art and part guilt, attempt, conspiracy and incitement are the same as the crime you are art and part guilty of, or which you have attempted, conspired, or incited to commit. Attempts, incitements and conspiracies tend to be treated with slight leniency if no completed crime was committed. Perverting the Course of Justice

Attempting to pervert the course or defeat the ends of justice is an offence committed whenever anyone does something with the intent that it will interfere with a criminal investigation or court proceedings. An example would be giving false details to the police to prevent them tracing you, either as a suspect or witness. This offence will tend to be dealt with severely.