Police `do not need` extended powers to deal with striking workers

There is no need for police to be able to vet or censor social media posts from those involved in industrial action, senior police officers have said.

Controversial government proposals included in the draft form of the Trade Union Bill have raised questions that police forces could be granted new powers to force them to notify officers when a strike occurs and allow them to examine and then potentially remove social media comments promoting it.

Appearing before the Public Bill Committee on Thursday October 15, Norfolk Deputy Chief Constable Charlie Hall and Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) Steve White said police involvement of industrial disputes should only extend beyond the policing of picket lines in “exceptional cases”.

Mr Hall said while there are occasions when police have been, and need to be, involved in policing strikes to keep the peace, it is not absolutely necessary as it is expected picket lines would generally police themselves.

He “does not believe” there is a need for the police to be able to vet or censor social media posts.

“Clearly, there may be a role for policing at some point. If things are posted that commit criminal offences, we would investigate in the same way that we would investigate other social media posts,” he added.

Mr White said in terms of the level of resources the police currently have there must be recognition of what is “practically possible”.

“I am on Twitter, and I sometimes wish that we did have the powers to deal with social media comments from time to time but, that would be massively complex. From a policing perspective, it would be a dangerous route to start going down.”

He questioned whether it would be possible for picketers to inform local authorities rather than police officers of imminent disputes, which would mean that unless there is a serious dispute police would not need to be involved.

Mr White also spoke about the difficulties of policing other potential elements of the Bill which would require unions to notify the police when a strike will take place.

“If there is a requirement for a notification to be made to the police, what happens when that does not happen and how do you know if it has not happened? Presumably, the police will have to investigate that. Otherwise, there is no point in having that requirement,” Mr White added.

Dave Smith, a representative of the Blacklist Support Group, claimed in a previous session that, should this legislation pass into law, police will keep a list of picket supervisors and pass it on to big businesses.

Mr Hall said he “could not see” the police service doing that and Mr White added that “I do not think we would, and certainly we should not.”