policing the police

I came across this article from New Internationalist magazine (1/1/2008). Thought it was quite a nice resume of what we are about...

POLICING THE POLICE
A protestor outside Britain's Campsfield Detention Centre--where hundreds of innocent asylum seekers are incarcerated--chats on the phone to a detainee inside. He seems remarkably unperturbed by the police camera filming his every move. But the cops' intrusive presence is no joke. This year, the constant surveillance and harassment of activists by police 'Forward Intelligence Teams' (FITs) reached new heights. In the summer, exasperated campaigners set up 'FITwatch' to monitor and oppose this state-orchestrated intimidation. Turning the cops' tactics to their own advantage, FITwatch have obstructed police cameras, photographed, identified and tracked FIT members, listened in on their conversations at demonstrations, and made it all public at fitwatch.blogspot.com. In November, the trial of two protestors who had been arrested for holding 'No Cameras' banners in front of a police officer who was filming people going into an anti-arms-trade planning meeting, found the activists not guilty. In Britain's increasingly Orwellian surveillance society, it looks like Big Brother finally has some healthy competition.