Questions to the IPCC and the Met Police over the health impact of kettling

The correspondence below has been sent by the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum to both the IPCC and the Metropolitan Police. At its meeting last month the Forum expressed concern about the treatment of student Alfie Meadows at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, where it was widely reported that police there tried to prevent him being treated – he was subsequently diagnosed with having suffered a brain injury. Also at the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust Board meeting on December 14th, I raised a question about how the LAS dealt with emergency calls coming from within a kettle. The reply was that specially kitted up LAS staff entered the kettle to try and find the patient – also that LAS staff were present in the police control room during the demonstration and that both LAS, St John’s Ambulance and Red Cross were on standby at such demonstrations. However, the Chief Medical Officer of the LAS admitted that there was a real danger of hypothermia occurring within the kettle.

The Forum is meeting tonight at the LAS Headquarters in Waterloo Road, which is a public meeting, at 5.30pm where some of these issues will be discussed.

Street detention and encirclement of protestors

Can you please let me know if you have carried out an investigation into the process of mass detention used by the police called "kettling"? We are particularly keen to know about any investigations into medical emergencies, medical treatment and access for the LAS during these detentions.


Your sincerely

Malcolm Alexander

Vice Chair


Patients' Forum London Ambulance Service


Chair: Joseph Healy, Vice Chairs: Malcolm Alexander, Sister Josephine Udie, Lynn Strother

Secretary: Alison Buick

Malcolm Alexander,

Vice Chair, Patients Forum,

30 Portland Rise,

N4 2PP



Sir Paul Stephenson

Commissioner

Metropolitan Police

January 9th 2011

Dear Sir Paul,


I am writing to you about the increased use by the Metropolitan Police of techniques involving “kettling” people into a confined space where they are detained until such time as they can be released or processed in a controlled manner. The approach appears to gather everyone in its path whether protestor or by-stander. I understand this practice is not currently subject to specific statutory regulation and control, except of course that Article 3 of the Human Rights Act provides that, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. This would appear to limit the sort of force that may be used.

The reason I am writing to you is specifically in relation to the medical needs of people held in a large crowd contained by the police, sometimes for several hours. People may become ill during such detention either due to panic, fear or the occurrence of natural events like strokes and heart attacks. Other people may have sustained an injury in their interaction with the police. In such a situation the civil liberty to call an ambulance and to receive treatment consistent with their clinical needs and civil rights are likely to be hampered possibly leading to death, sustained injury or increased harm as a result of delays in getting attention for a medical emergency.

Can you please answer the following questions?

1) Are you able to show that during planning of your operations that the potential medical needs of the people you detain by “kettling” are considered?

2) Can you provide a copy of your policy for responding to the medical needs of people who have been detained in a “kettling” operation?

3) During the use of this kind of detention what method is used to identify medical problems, especially in the ‘thick of the crowd’ that may arise during the detention?

4) Can I have a copy of any agreements you have with the LAS on their access to people your officers have detained during a “kettling” operation.

5) What provision do you make to allow the LAS access to people who have been detained during a “kettling” operation?

6) What agreement do you have with the LAS to enable them to respond directly to 999 calls from people who have been detained by your offices in a “kettling” operation?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Alexander

Vice Chair