Consolidating ‘traditional methods’ of public order policing: the response of the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police to mass demonstrations in 1968

St John, J. 2024. Consolidating ‘traditional methods’ of public order policing: the response of the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police to mass demonstrations in 1968. Contemporary British History. 38 (2), pp. 270-298. https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2023.2275197

TitleConsolidating ‘traditional methods’ of public order policing: the response of the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police to mass demonstrations in 1968
TypeJournal article
AuthorsSt John, J.
Abstract

This article examines the response of the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police to mass demonstrations in 1968. Using a variety of contemporaneous sources, including underused archival material, documents released through freedom of information requests, and evidence disclosed as part of the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), it shows how the experience of mass demonstrations that year, which came against the backdrop of widespread international protest, prompted significant developments in terms of crowd control tactics, covert intelligence gathering practices and the use of new technology to enable greater command and control over police resources. Taken together, these measures represented a permanent change to the public order capacity of the Metropolitan Police, providing a model that was gradually exported to other forces across England and Wales with the encouragement of the Home Office. However, despite the significant changes introduced in 1968, this article shows how police officers, civil servants, and politicians emphasised the continuation of ‘traditional methods’, a term that functioned as a way of situating public order policing within an idealised image of a uniquely English policing tradition, with an appeal to historical continuity that aimed to convey legitimacy and construct consent.

JournalContemporary British History
Journal citation38 (2), pp. 270-298
ISSN1361-9462
1743-7997
Year2024
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Publisher's version
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2023.2275197
Publication dates
Published online06 Nov 2023
Published online02 Apr 2024

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