Go to WriteToThem to write and send your letter in a really easy way.
Dear [MP'S NAME],
I am sure by now you will have seen the shocking video of a police officer attacking an innocent bystander – Ian Tomlinson – who happened to be walking past one of the many G20 demonstrations.
He suffered a baton attack from behind by a police officer and after striking his head on the floor he later died.
The police are unapologetic about his death, describing their actions as ‘maintaining order’ on Radio 4 today.
After seeing the video this seems hard to swallow. It makes it reasonably clear that he was not presenting a threat to anyone, nor was he causing trouble.
If this were a member of the public holding a baton, striking a man to the floor, who later died as a direct result, that person would promptly be put in jail.
However, because the perpetrator is a police officer this apparently does not hold true.
The police officers involved and the way the matter has been handled so far have shown a disregard for the law and for common decency, which erodes the public’s confidence in the Police as a whole.
Please – I urge you to raise this matter in the House of Commons and put pressure on the Police to ensure that justice prevails.
UPDATE – Lynne Jones MP has replied to my letter (at 3pm on the day I sent it):
I share your concerns about events leading to the death of Ian Tomlinson. I am also concerned about the issue of “kettling” and the general attitude of some police to demonstrators. Peaceful demonstrators have the right not only to demonstrate but to be treated with respect. You are not the only constituent who has been in touch and I agree that such events do erode public confidence in the police. In the first instance, I will be passing on the communications I receive from constituents to the Met Police Commissioner as I am already in correspondence with him on the police attitude to people planning demonstrations. I am sure that the response I will get will be that the matter is being investigated by the IPCC but at least it will be a way of demonstrating the strength of public feeling on this issue.
I will also look to see how the matter can be raised in parliament – it may well be that there will be a statement on our return after the recess.
The police officers involved and the way the matter has been handled so far have shown a disregard for the law and for common decency which is quite unique to share in the blog.
The police officers involved and the way the matter has been handled so far have shown a disregard for the law and for common decency, which erodes the public’s confidence in the Police as a whole while the police should handle the matter in more decent manner.
The police officers involved and the way the matter has been handled so far have shown a disregard for the law and for common decency, which erodes the public’s confidence in the Police as a whole.
the work done and shown in the blog is real shame that Lynne Jones, a good independent minded MP, is standing down.
Jack Kirby
It's a real shame that Lynne Jones, a good independent minded MP, is standing down and that Stephen McCabe, who's voted the wrong way on all the key issues like Iraq and tutition fees, will be standing as Labour's candidate in Birmingham Selly Oak at the next election (see http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Stephen...)
Anonymous
The MET has the worst policing in the UK. Not only because of this man's death and the publicity it is getting - I wouldn't say its a common occurrence everywhere but police brutality is a wider problem.
The attitude with the MET and London forces are their "Zero Tolerance" approach.
I strongly urge everyone to watch "Brit Cops" which highlights this.
An couple of examples shown in this programme:
1) A police officer broke up a disagreement between a man and a woman in the City. The man came back over to the woman and held her arm (not too forcefully to use the word "grab" but an assault nevertheless) the police intervened and removed his hand from the woman.
They could have simply then moved his hands behind his back and handcuffed him before making an arrest - as the man didn't show any signs or intent into resisting.
The police officer grabbed him with force and threw him onto a shop window and held him there while he shouted a telling off to him (the same sort of telling off a parent would likely do if their child did something really naughty). I saw this action as completely unnecessary.
2) A football game in London. Police were waiting outside for the final whistle and crowd to leave the stadium. A man was walking home (presumably) shouting chants about how good the team he supports is. This of course is an offence under the Public Order Act and could cause friction between the two teams.
Instead of pulling the man over - either politely or more verbal commands... the police officer lunged forward, grabbed him and pulled him out of the way. This surely is an assault?
Many more... watch for yourself.
Stefan Isendahl
They've already got away with murder, what's stopping them from carrying on like the thugs they obviously are?!
Paul
How many more innocent people will be murdered by the police in similar ways without any justice being served?
The police's treatment of the British public these days is intollerable and must be stopped.
unfortunately this incident is not isolated and this so called government cannot control anything. Lets face it if the PM cannot control the banks with the vast regulation already in place how on earth can they control an entire police force.
Most other countries would be rioting in the streets until something is done.
Sorry to write to you again, but I have severe concerns raised by the treatment of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests.
I'm afraid the casual violence of police towards protesters comes as no surprise to me, and I am sure that there were many other such examples which have not come to light because no one has dropped dead afterwards. I am equally sure that the Police will attempt to portray this as an isolated event.
We all know that the Police take acres of video footage during such events. Can we be assured that this will now be reviewed to see what other examples there are of police acting improperly. It will be interesting to see how much of this footage "goes missing" or is "accidentally erased".
I also note the continuing harassment by the police, quite improperly, of photographers throughout the capital on a day to day basis. I'd refer you to this interesting article on The Register:
I can quite see why the police want the power to stop people recording their assaults on defenceless working class newspaper vendors: but it is a mystery to me why Jacqui Smith, your home secretary, and her department are quite so keen on giving them unfettered powers to prevent people from publicising their activities. I do not think that the Police, doing their duty, have a "right to privacy": rather the public have "a right to scrutiny".
I also note from the above article a depressing tendency of the police and community support officers to exceed, illegally, their already draconian powers to harass photographers and videographers.
Can you let me know your thoughts on this, and any response from the Home Office that you get.
Yours sincerely,
alan
You english people amaze me that you have to write to your mp about the murder of ian by a police person at the g20 demonstration . my god , arnt you people strong enough as a community to block the city untill the murderer is kept off the streets for the english peoples safety . DO YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND alan
cmbainbridge
I didn't do this in what I wrote because I didn't think of it it at that time, but it's probably worth asking your MP to add their voice to calls that the IPCC shouldn't just "manage" the investigation, they should use their own people. Some of the officers in the video (the dog handlers) are from the City of London police, so that force should not be involved in the investigation (as is currently the case), whether under IPCC management or not.
In fact, it might be worth lobbying for a public inquiry:
I'm politely asking the recipient to forward it on to Sir Paul Stephenson, head of the Met.
Here you go:
Please can you pass this on to Sir Paul Stephenson?
Many thanks,
Dear Sir Paul,
I’m writing to express my concern over the incident that lead to the death of Ian Tomlinson.
My concern is this: that the officer clearly shown making an unprovoked attack on a peaceful individual walking away from him is not yet in custody.
If this was footage of a civilian pushing another, and that lead to death, then the individual responsible for the push would surely be in custody on charges of unprovoked assault, and with the possibility of manslaughter charges being considered.
So why is this not the case for the policeman concerned with the unprovoked attack on Ian Tomlinson? After all, there is clear, documentary evidence to warrant his arrest and immediate suspension.
Could you please explain why this has not yet happened and also if the officer concerned is still on public duty? It is a huge worry if someone who is clearly shown to make unprovoked attacks on civilians is still walking the streets.
I await your immediate reply with interest.
Yours truly,
jon
Don't just write to your MP - ask them to do something too!
We should ask our MPs to write to the Home Office and complain about the policing on the day, and to call for a public inquiry.
This could have happened to anyone, and is precisely why the police tactics are unacceptable.
The way the police kettled people in, and by all accounts attacked all sorts of people throughout the day, both at Bank and at the Climate Camp, was wrong, and it needs to be impossible for them to get away with it again.
toby harris
fwiw, my local tube station is stockwell, where de menzies was shot by the police, and its the same handling of 'aren't we heroes' misinformation turning to the police knowing but hiding they were actually culpable that really galls me.
A letter to my MP about Ian Tomlinson
Watching the video of the police assault on Ian Tomlinson got me very angry, so I’ve written to my MP about it.
Update – don’t copy paste my letter because MPs will ignore it. But you can use mine as inspiration…
You might want to do the same, so here is the letter that I wrote, which might provide inspiration for your own letter. I had originally recommended copying and pasting this, but apparently identical letters received by MPs don’t have as much impact as those in your own words.
Go to WriteToThem to write and send your letter in a really easy way.
UPDATE – The Guardian have picked up my letter on their News Blog
UPDATE – Lynne Jones MP has replied to my letter (at 3pm on the day I sent it):