Tom Griffin (London, OK):Disquiet about Metropolitan Police tactics towards political demonstrations has grown in recent months, not least in the wake of events in London during George Bush's visit in June and in Kent during the Climate Camp in August. The latest revelation from campaign group FITWatch will only add to those concerns:
A Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) officer this week admitted publicly that he entered data from FIT operations onto a centrally operated database. This is the first time the Met has publicly acknowledged the existence a database containing details of people involved in political protest.
The admission is significant because this database would hold a great deal of sensitive information about an individual’s political activity. The accumulation of information by the police on a person’s political affiliations or beliefs is a very sensitive area, and potentially a breach of the Human Rights Act.
