Church and State blog: Police intimidation at the place we sleep, Salters

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Police intimidation at the place we sleep, Salters

As I said in the previous blog, I am starting to run out of ideas for new blog post titles so many things have happened to us this month, particularly at Salters’ Hall where we sleep at night – more about Salters’ Company can be read in Declan’s email this afternoon to Superintendent Lorraine Cussen of Snow Hill police station, presented below.

Well, this is what happened last night while we were asleep in our sleeping bags: at about 1.00am I am woken rudely by a female police officer (PC 493CP) who says that pursuant to Operation Poncho II we must move ourselves and our things away so that two City of London Corporation street cleaners can wash and disinfect the porch floor – located ... on a derelict highwalk! An hour later they are gone, poodles of disinfectant about me – the cleaner who poured the stuff presumably quite knackered because he didn’t even bother to use a brush.

I was quite convinced that I was going to end up once again in the back of a police van – last September I was arrested by four police officers for a breach of the peace because I refused to move on as result of having nowhere else to sleep (see blog of 11 September “I am arrested for ‘breach of the peace’”); I was later released without charge. This time I also refused to move, and for the same reason. I also don’t happen to believe that Operation Poncho II would stand up to scrutiny in a court of law subject to the Human Rights Act 1998 (see blog of 13 September “Letter from the City of London Police”).

Anyway, I still can’t figure out which night was more surreal: the night of the 28 May when two police officers and two workers from the homeless organisation Broadway came to visit us (see blog “Last night something surreal happened”) or last night’s encounter with PC 493CP and two street cleaners. Perhaps last night – the police officer even made out that we weren’t sleeping where we were sleeping on the copies of the record of the encounter/stop we were issued!

First, she tells us that our porch is not located at Salter’s Hall. So Declan proceeds to read her the CCTV notice over my head: “CCTV Surveillance. Salters’ Hall. Images are being monitored and recorded for the purposes of crime prevention and public safety. The scheme is controlled by the Salters’ Company.” Still, she insists on “Highwalk - St. Alphage House” because, she says, she is standing on Alphage Highwalk with St. Alphage House behind her! I should have said that technically it would have been more correct to write Laurence Highman Bespoke Tailors, another derelict building, because it is a lot closer to our sleeping pitch than St. Alphage House! (In the blog of 5 June “Salters back in the spotlight” I publish two Google map photos of the pitch.)

There is one thing, though, that I remember particularly well. As Declan is on the highwalk separating our things for what we are both pretty sure will be my arrest, he informs PC 493CP that if there is any damage to my property (I was in my sleeping bag, on a shower curtain) that he would seek to make a statement in the police station, adding as the two cleaners approached me that he was hoping they would throw the disinfectant over my head. “We’re not thugs,” she replied.

Normally on Saturday mornings we walk for 45 minutes to the Catholic Manna Centre for a small bite to eat and a cup or two of tea – something we decided was wise to skip this morning (for more on the Manna, see blog of 14 May “Letter to Archbishop Vincent Nichols”).

For the record, this is the email that Declan sent this afternoon to Superintendent Lorraine Cussen of Snow Hill police station who is overseeing Operation Poncho II within the City of London Police (the email was also copied to City of London Police Commissioner Michael Bowron):

Subject: Operation Poncho II

Dear Superintendent Cussen,

I refer to the attached copy of your email of 12 September 2008 regarding the arrest of my wife on the night of 11 September for refusing to move on as a result of having nowhere else to sleep (she was later released without charge). You stated in an email of 10 June 2008 (also attached) that you are "the supervisory police officer who is overseeing Operation Poncho II within the City of London Police".

As you are aware, my wife and I are of no fixed abode and have been sleeping rough in the City of London since 3 November 2006. (We slept in the same porch until a trellis gate was installed on 4 September 2008; as from 12 September, our sleeping pitch has been at Salters' Hall, Fore Street.)

I wish to confirm that at 1.00am last night PC 493CP insisted pursuant to Operation Poncho II that my wife and I move out of our sleeping pitch at Salters' Hall to allow two City of London Corporation street cleaners to wash and disinfect the porch floor - located on (a derelict) St. Alphage Highwalk. When my wife refused as a result of having nowhere else to sleep, she was told by PC 493CP that she would be arrested if she did not vacate the porch. Again my wife refused, the upshot being that one of the street cleaners poured disinfectant around where she remained outstretched in her sleeping bag. With that, PC 493CP and the two street cleaners left.

From my position with our bags on the highwalk, I took issue with PC 493CP on the location cited on the copies of the record of the encounter/stop we were issued: PC 493CP insisted on "Highwalk - St. Alphage House", arguing that she was standing on the highwalk with (a derelict) St. Alphage House behind her; in fact, the location of the encounter/stop was "Salters' Hall", as evident from the Salters' Company CCTV notice I drew to the police officer's attention above my wife's head.

Salters’ Company describes itself as a Great City Livery Company very largely devoted to charity; it also plays an important part in the system of local government in the City of London, reflecting its historical roots. The company not only fund raises for science education (my petition to the United Nations on research cloning of embryos and stem cells has now been signed by 591 scientists and academics, who include recognised authorities from the world’s leading universities and research institutes, as well as 24 Nobel laureates, and this despite several months of serious spamming), but runs a project for the homeless.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

cc Commissioner Michael Bowron

Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Police intimidation at the place we sleep, Salters

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