Anarchy:the Stats

Essex police

....."of those arrested 35were for obstructing Bailiffs,two remain on police bail and six people have been cautioned,the remaining 26 have been reported for the offences which will be prosecuted by Basildon Borough Council.

The remaining ten people were charged with offenses including

2 counts of violent disorder

5 counts of Public Order offense

1count of racially aggravated Public Order offense

1 count of failing to remove a face covering ***

1 count of assault by beating

1 count of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving

1 count of resisting an officer

1 count of using behaviour likely to cause harassment,alarm or distress.

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***This was the first case to come to court and resulted in an humiliating defeat  for the police when the defendant produced two videos exonerating her.

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Elsewhere the local papers reported that three protestors had pleaded guilty to urinating on police stationed below the gantry and another local man pleaded guilty to throwing a piece of concrete which fell short of police lines. The cases came to court in an haphazard fashion and one person charged with a serious offense had 4/5 postponements before being acquitted.(The others were given community service orders )

 At first glance these results might seem similar to any found in any country town an an average Friday or Saturday night when the pubs and clubs release their revelers and most police forces have learned how to cope with these contingencies without calling upon riot squads.What ails the Essex Police ?

A partial answer may be found in the September press conference chaired by Chief Supt.Tim Stokes who estimated that several thousand undesirables whom he called anarchists were preparing to hijack the eviction.

The team assembled in Basildon to investigate all matters concerning Dale Farm concentrated on the social media which is notoriously unsafe and unreliable and indeed during the run up to the big event Facebook,for example,was almost unusable there was so much interference from persons for whom "monitoring" seemed to involve removing messages and posting Spam in their place.Other police forces have dedicated teams of officers who go round schools telling pupils how to use the new media responsibly and how to be wary and not trust the small screen - where you can seldom be sure of the identity of the person trying to get in touch with you.

Raj Chada the solicitor representing the lady with a face covering told the Judge that the police were hounding his clients as if anxious to boost their reputation in law enforcement

There you have it  they had put on a big expensive operation supposedly to deal with a massive threat of violent disorder from a large group of determined rebels which never materialised.They were dealing in fantasy policing - not rooted in the gathering of evidence-and not conducted in a measured,proportionate set of responses. They were OTT     Over the top  by a country mile.