Message To You, Rudy

Well, the Metropolitan Police in London have tried a charm offensive to make nice with the Climate Camp before it all kicks off. Or have they ? Many Campers have been suspicious of the softly, softly propaganda, and have put together a little message to give right on back to the Met, and it reads a lot like this :-

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/18/met-police-climate-camp-twitter

“Met police turns on charm ahead of climate protest : Climate Camp will be first big test of policing since G20 : Metropolitan police to disseminate information via Twitter : Paul Lewis : guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 August 2009 : Scotland Yard is overhauling its tactics for policing protests by reaching out to activists in advance of its first big test since the controversy surrounding the handling of the G20 demonstrations. Senior officers have told representatives from Climate Camp, who are planning to construct a huge campsite next week at an undisclosed location in London, that they will be met with a “community-style” policing operation that will limit the use of surveillance units and stop-and-searches wherever possible. In a further effort to disseminate real-time information, the Metropolitan police has activated an account on Twitter, named CO11MetPolice after its public order unit codename, which will be used to send operational information to protesters taking part in the camp…”

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/22/women-police-officers-climate-camp

“A force to be reckoned with : The Metropolitan police have announced a new strategy for next week’s Climate Camp – putting women officers in charge of the operation. Will this avoid the violence seen at the G20 protests? : Jon Henley : The Guardian, Saturday 22 August 2009 : ‘Women are less likely to resort to batons, pepper spray or quick cuffs to get out of trouble, and more likely to use negotiation to talk someone down,’ says Professor Jennifer Brown. : The last team Inspector Liz Owsley of the Metropolitan police worked on, not so long ago, happened to have just one woman. All the rest were young male PCs. There was a moment, she relates, when a bit of a situation was starting to kick off with a bunch of yobs in a courtyard. A constable was getting overly verbal with one of the lads, trading insults: a real slanging match. “So the woman officer just turned to him and said, quite gently, ‘You’re not helping,'” Owsley recalls. “It was only a small thing, tiny really, but it was classic. Women police will always want to resolve a situation with the least possible upset. Their question is always, can we do this without confrontation? Is it possible without conflict? There just isn’t that same kind of macho aggressiveness you can get from the men. We’re better communicators.” After the public outrage and official brickbats heaped on the Met’s handling of G20 protests in London in April, during which a newspaper vendor, Ian Tomlinson, died after being hit by a police officer, news this week that both senior officers controlling tactics at next week’s Climate Camp will be women has been broadly welcomed as evidence that the force may be trying to adopt a less confrontational approach to policing demonstrations…”

Message to you, Rudy
by The Specials

Stop your messin’ around
Better think of your future
Time you straightened right out
Creatin’ problems in town
Rudy a message to you
Rudy a message to you
Stop your foolin’ around
Time you straightened right out
Better think of your future
Or else you’ll wind up in jail
Rudy a message to you
Rudy a message to you