Police in London attack critical mass

Tony Raven wrote:


Both of which notify the Police and follow the rules for organised
events which CM doesn't.

--
Tony


A technicality and no more. As has been covered ad infinitum CM is not
'organised' in the same way. Then again perhaps the sort of support the
police give to such events might not be a bad idea. Fully closed roads
with any one attempting to enter the route being liable to arrest under
section 16A of The Road Traffic Regulations Act and so on. Something
tells me full road closures would '**** off' drivers even more though.

Perhaps you (and others) have no idea about what is involved in
organising an 'official' event on the highway, but I have been involved
in organising such events and it is a massive task. A one day Premier
calandar road race out in the sticks can take almost a year to organise
with a team of 8 plus dozens of helpers on the day, and cost at least
£10,000, more if the police want paying for their time at the full
rate.

To put you in the picture if a CM event were to be made 'official' the
'organisers' would have to follow the 'Events on the public highway'
guidelines and this would create a huge task for any 'organiser', as
well as landing them with some potentially very onerous insurance
liabilities. Such an 'organised' CM event would certainly need much
more in the way of police resources, the bill for which would which
doubtlessly be sent by the police to the 'organisation' of CM, who
wouldn't have the cash unless all participants were charged at least
£20-£30 per ride.(Perhaps much more given the costs of policing a
ride in central London, erecting barriers according to best practice
guidelines and so on). This is obviously not going to happen so no
'event' full stop and the criminalisation of any group of cyclists
riding together deemed by the police to be part of any 'protest'.

Well done Tony, good strategy. Perhaps you should look to a career in
the police service.

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:19:23 +0100, Tony Raven wrote:

Both of which notify the Police and follow the rules for organised
events which CM doesn't.

Out of interest, who is it that you think organises the protest on the
M25 every week-day, and do you anticipate the police similarly
extending their powers to arrest them too?

regards, Ian SMith
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Well done Tony, good strategy.

It is.

Notified of route in advance the police ride ahead ready to stop cars
entering the route *as the mass arrived* and reopen it *as it passed*.
This would be great as the mass wouldn't get split up at red lights etc.

People would not be held up for as long as they are now, the mass would
make better progress, it would be safer etc.

Mark Thompson wrote:
Well done Tony, good strategy.

It is.

Notified of route in advance the police ride ahead ready to stop cars
entering the route *as the mass arrived* and reopen it *as it passed*.
This would be great as the mass wouldn't get split up at red lights etc.

People would not be held up for as long as they are now, the mass would
make better progress, it would be safer etc.

yes but is that what the Mass wants?, as there is no organiser who
knows? I would turn up if that was how it went though, and I think it
would be better.

On 7 Oct 2005 12:22:55 -0700, "MartinM" wrote:

Mark Thompson wrote:
Well done Tony, good strategy.
Notified of route in advance the police ride ahead ready to stop cars
entering the route *as the mass arrived* and reopen it *as it passed*.
This would be great as the mass wouldn't get split up at red lights etc.

People would not be held up for as long as they are now, the mass would
make better progress, it would be safer etc.

yes but is that what the Mass wants?, as there is no organiser who
knows? I would turn up if that was how it went though, and I think it
would be better.

It would be much better, but it wouldn't be a protest, which is what
the organisers (for want of anything better to call them) want - the
Friday Night Skate is on at exactly the same time as the Mass, they
often pass each other. It blocks roads, disturbs other traffic, and
is completely un-policed, it marshalls itself through junctions and is
an enjoyable skate along roads and through places that are normally
too busy to travel through.

A mass cycle with the same aims would do great things to attract
cyclists, instead we have a protest based CM that requires policing,
and certainly holds no attraction for me.

Jim.

Mark,

Unfortunately, things are not a simple as you seem to think. Might I
suggest that you read up on the duties of anyone who accepts
responsibility for organising an event on the public highway and the
best practice guidelines that have to be followed for an event to be
'officially' sanctioned by the police.

Yes, it might help the police if some sort of agreed route was laid out
before the ride, but who would do this? What if riders wanted to
exercise their legal right to cycle on the highway wherever they chose
and went off in a different direction? Would the police be justified in
arresting anyone who departed from the ride to go off in their own
direction?

CM is not an 'organised' event, it is a spontaneous coming together of
people. To try to impose the same sort of 'order' on CM as say, for a
bike race or march would require that someone stood up and declared
themselves to be the 'organiser'. The police make it clear that this is
what they want. However, as pointed out above this carries with it many
responsibilities and in any case the whole spirit of CM goes against
having any individual stand up and declare themselves to be the
'organiser'. I am sure if someone did most participants would simply
exercise their right to cycle where they pleased.

If the police were to treat CM as an organised event they would be in a
strong position to require the 'organiser' to follow the best practice
guidelines I mentioned above. In fact they would be practically
compelled to do so. The main effect of these guidelines is to put
practically the whole of the responsibility for the safe running of the
event onto the shoulders of the organiser. ACPO have stated that they
do not want the responsibility for ensuring the safety of events on the
highway, but also require the organiser to liaise with the police,
laying out what police cover they require as part of their safety audit
for the event. (Often then billing the organiser for this cover).

The legislation covering events on the highway is very patchy and there
is no sign of new legislation (which was promised years ago) actually
reaching the statue books. As a result other bits of legislation are
often used which are not altogether appropriate. For example, in oder
to make even temporary 'rolling road' closures absolutely legal it is
usual for section 16A of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984/1994 to
be used, even though this legislation was actually brought in to allow
major events such as the Tour de France to be run in the UK. To use
this legislation official notices have to be posted in newspaper in
advance and so an, all of which costs loads of money. Actually thinking
on even this wouldn't be any good for CM as it can only be employed for
a restricted number of days per year Given all this who on earth is
going to stand up and take on the responsibilities of being a CM
'organiser'. How are they going to fund their 'event'?

Below is some info on the best practice guidelines for holding an
'official' event on the public highway. It relates to cycle racing but
that is because most of the code was worked out in conjunction with
British Cycling as cycling was just about the only activity already
covered by existing legislation and so was most directly affected by
any changes that might arise. Despite the cycle-racing focus this code
has been adopted for use in relation to all events on the highway, from
triathlons to scout marches.

Yes it might seem simple but what you suggest just doesn't fit in with
the current situation regarding holding events on the highway.
Similarly, no one can hold a cycle road race any more without doing a
full safety audit and following the event safety code in full.

For the ACPO view on events on the highway see

http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/polici...ety_policy.doc

Event safety code

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/eve...fety_code.html

From ACPO's declaration of policy...

ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS OF ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN
IRELAND

Public Safety Policy

1 . INTRODUCTION

1.1 In general the public perception is that the Police are the lead
agency for approving all public events, including those which take
place on the public highway. In reality the Police have no authority to
either approve or ban such events and in fact, Police powers to
regulate traffic for planned events are extremely limited. Furthermore,
the Police have no general duty to preserve public safety at any public
event, except where there are imminent or likely threats to life.

1.2 Legal opinion suggests that the responsibility for public safety
rests with the organisers of an event, the owners of the land on which
it takes place and possibly the Local Authority if the event takes
place on a road. However, other persons or agencies who undertake
actions regarding public safety at an event may assume a duty of care
and, therefore, also become responsible.

On 7 Oct 2005 13:02:14 -0700, wrote:

CM is not an 'organised' event, it is a spontaneous coming together of
people.

No, it's certainly not spontaneous, it's a regular event
http://www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk/
"Anyone can join in, just bring yourself and your bike down to the
South Bank on the last Friday of each month, between 6pm & 6:45pm
under Waterloo Bridge"

That doesn't mean it needs organisers, but this sort of deliberate
misleading of the nature of the event is one of the problems. A
genuine celebration of cycling without all the confrontational aspects
would be good, as it currently is now, it's not.

Jim.

'Spontaneous' as in whoever feels like it can turn up. I would be
spontaneously attending this event if I were unfortunate enough to
still live in Airstrip One...

On 7 Oct 2005 13:23:07 -0700, wrote:

'Spontaneous' as in whoever feels like it can turn up.

that most certainly does not make it spontaneous, anyone can turn up
to all sorts of organised events.

Jim.