ABSTRACT
The death of Mr Ian Tomlinson during the protests surrounding the 2009 G20 International Summit in London began a series of public statements, news articles and revelations which culminated ultimately in what is arguably one of the most serious critical incidents in British policing. The loss of public confidence in the police is central to the definition of a critical incident which, when serious and widespread, stimulates political crisis and forces high-level reaction. In this case, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of the Constabulary (HMIC, 2009a, 2009b), the UK's main policing oversight authority, conducted a systematic and comprehensive analysis, resulting in the ‘Adapting to Protest’ (ATP) reports. The first report offered an analysis of the policing of the ‘G20 protests’ by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS); the second, a more comprehensive overview of public order policing in England and Wales.
