Recent Book: Disinformation: Review of Security and the State
| Published date | 01 July 1980 |
| Date | 01 July 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300314 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
DlSINFORMA
nON
STATE
RESEARCH:
Review
of
Security and the State 1979.
Julian Friedmann Books Ltd. £10.
The attack continues on those agencies
which seek to safeguard and maintain the
state in, more or less, its present form.
The day to day workings of these
agencies, the technical advances made to
improve their efficiency and the new
powers they seek to acquire come under
the probing spotlight of those who are
alleged to bededicated to preserving civil
liberties but are more interested really in
reducing the powers of the state.
The Review of Security and the State
1979 is the second volume of a collection
of bulletins entitled "State Research".
The bulletins are published bi-monthly
and the Review gathers together the six
bulletins from October/November 1978
to August/september 1979and presents
them in a hard bound, indexed book with
a forward by Ralph Miliband.
The bulletins are produced by a group
of researchers, collecting material from
public sources on state policy in such
fields as the law, policing, internal
security and the military. Some research
is also done on kindred subjects in other
countries. State Research also examines
the links between the agencies operating
in these fields on the one hand and
industry, right wing and para-military
organisations on the other.
The sources that the researchers use
are
many
and
varied,
including
publications such as "Hansard", "Time
Out", "The Times", "Chief Constables
Annual Reports" and many more.
Indeed the cross section of sources is very
wide and some of the factual information
is gathered from unexpected places, for
example, an article in the Royal Signals
Journai was used to gather information
on the Armed Forces involvement in a
recent strike. Police publications such as
"The
Police Review" and "Police" are
also used as a source of information in a
number of articles. Nevertheless the
authors appear very envious of the
sources available to Chapman Pincher
when they review his book "Inside
Stan'''.
The bulletins consist of a number of
short articles looking at such subjects as,
Jury
Vetting, Police Press Cards,
Computers, The Army Line on Northern
Ireland,
Special
Branch
Figures,
Police Journal
Ju~1'
1980
together with book reviews and
background papers which studies a
particular subject in more depth.
Background papers in the current review
include two subjects of particular interest
to the Police, "The Special Patrol
Groups in Britain" and "The Battle for
Suspects' Rights".
The Royal Commission on Criminal
Procedure is the subject in "The Battle
for Suspects' Rights". The evidence
presented by all sections of the police
service to the Commission is examined
and criticised in detail to enable the
conclusion to be drawn
"that
the police's
call for greater autonomy and powers
form part of a more general rightward
campaign than the mere refinement of
the fairness of the systems of criminal
investigation and trial".
It was not unexpected that a
background paper on the Special Patrol
Groups should feature in one of the
bulletins. After a well researched and
documented account of their formation,
the article picks out a number of
incidents in which the Metropolitan
Special Patrol Groups have received
adverse publicity. No mention is made of
the benefits of this type of policing. A
careful study of Chief Constables'
Annual Reports provides the researchers
with information on provincial S.P.G.'s
and a disturbing picture is then presented
of aggressive, violent groups who
perform the function of a para-military
police force.
The police service receives constant
and particularly close attention. Certain
departments such as the Special Patrol
Group and the Special Branch seem to
have become an obsession with the
researchers, Time and time again
warnings are sounded as to the way the
liberty and freedom of the individual is
being eroded or denied by the sinister
working of the police in general and some
specialist departments in particular.
The interpretation and conclusions
drawn from the facts are not always
justified and in many cases, a "one sided"
approach is pursued to make the
researcher's point. In an article on the
"Illegal Immigrants Intelligence Unit"
the police are criticised for conducting
284
To continue reading
Request your trial