Police asked university for list of attendees at fracking debate

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/15/police-university-list-fracking-debate

Should the police be doing this?

The next thing you know secret policemen will be posing as activists and seducing female activists, forming a long lasting relationship just so they can spy on these political extremists. Soviet Berlin style. Oh wait.

Reply 1

SkyT

7

Interesting where they put their focus. I can immediately think of at least five more challenging problems than people who go to a debate. Interestingly enough, all of those five problems are largely ignored.

Reply 2

MatureStudent36

5

Original post by SkyT

Interesting where they put their focus. I can immediately think of at least five more challenging problems than people who go to a debate. Interestingly enough, all of those five problems are largely ignored.

Depends on who was organising the debate. If it's a direct action environmental group who are likely to advocate illegal activity, then the police are going to be interested

there may have been other reasons for wanting to know who was there.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

RF_PineMarten

18

Original post by MatureStudent36

Depends on who was organising the debate. If it's a direct action environmental group who are likely to advocate illegal activity, then the police are going to be interested

there may have been other reasons for wanting to know who was there.

According to the article, it was organised by the university who invited certain people they consider experts to have a debate. Not by any direct action environmental group.

Reply 4

MatureStudent36

5

Original post by RFowler

According to the article, it was organised by the university who invited certain people they consider experts to have a debate. Not by any direct action environmental group.

We've had one side of the story reported.

Be wary of using the word 'expert' when it comes to environmental issues or any other issue that's got a political connection. There's a lot of members of pressure groups who get classed as 'experts.' Sadly it's an often misquoted description.

Reply 5

ChaoticButterfly

OP

20

Original post by RFowler

According to the article, it was organised by the university who invited certain people they consider experts to have a debate. Not by any direct action environmental group.

Pretty much just standard debate you should expect from a university. it's suppose to be what people learn how to do. University isn't about (shouldn't be anyway) molding the students to have politically correct opinions/views. You are supposed to teach people how to think not what to think.

Reply 6

Greenlaner

11

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/15/police-university-list-fracking-debate

Should the police be doing this?

The next thing you know secret policemen will be posing as activists and seducing female activists, forming a long lasting relationship just so they can spy on these political extremists. Soviet Berlin style. Oh wait.

Fracking is big money. Seriously big money, wars have been started over less and I have no doubt that the entities involved will do litterally anything to protect their interests. Even if that means employing police forces to act as their own private mercenaries to bully and intimidate any opposition.

but the Dover district chief inspector did attend the event as an interested stakeholder.

Oh dear. Little Freudian slip there, inspector? :rolleyes:

Reply 7

Lady Comstock

14

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/15/police-university-list-fracking-debate

Should the police be doing this?

The next thing you know secret policemen will be posing as activists and seducing female activists, forming a long lasting relationship just so they can spy on these political extremists. Soviet Berlin style. Oh wait.

I see no problem with the police attempting preempt any public order offences, particularly if those attending had past convictions for disorder.

This is about as outrageous as the police checking out attendees to an event at Westminster Abbey to make sure they have the resources if anyone is attending who has previous convictions for disorder.

Reply 8

ChaoticButterfly

OP

20

Original post by Lady Comstock

I see no problem with the police attempting preempt any public order offences, particularly if those attending had past convictions for disorder.

This is about as outrageous as the police checking out attendees to an event at Westminster Abbey to make sure they have the resources if anyone is attending who has previous convictions for disorder.

So you think background checks should be done on anyone attending a political debate at a university?

Reply 9

nulli tertius

21

I am sorry. The police have to collect intelligence in order to detect and prevent crime. That intelligence of necessity has to include people who are not criminals. The police have a database of all drivers, not merely those who have committed road traffic offences. They know of all scrap dealers, not just those who are fences.

If you did a correlation of those who are objecting to the police having this information with those who would prefer to see protesters disrupt shale oil extraction rather than the police succeed in thwarting those attempts, I suspect that correlation would be near 100%.

Reply 10

InnerTemple

20

I wonder what sort of crime the police were expecting to occur at this debate?

Most debates I have attended have been quite good natured.

Reply 11

nulli tertius

21

Original post by InnerTemple

I wonder what sort of crime the police were expecting to occur at this debate?

Most debates I have attended have been quite good natured.

They weren't expecting any crime at the debate. They were looking for criminals not crime.

It has been a generation since the last major environmental rioting at Newbury. Whilst there will be those who turn up to give the establishment a kicking at every opportunity, one cannot assume that the people laying in front of drilling rigs will be the same people who are storming banks in the City, the same people going off to fight the infidel in Syria or the same people planting bombs under the cars of puppy farm owners.

Police intelligence on enviro-terrorists probably consists of information on a lot of people who now have cottages in Surrey, drive Chelsea tractors and send their kids to independent schools.

Reply 12

username1221160

19

Meanwhile, there will be someone out there who manages to commits or comes close to committing a real act of terrorism because the police/security services are spending their resources watching a bunch of harmless hippies.