Police 'taught to treat the public as the enemy'

David Gilbertson, who received a Queen's Police Medal for his 35 years of service to policing, said that "supine management" and a "crisis of leadership" within the Met had led to a "safety first" approach which meant that every encounter with the public was treated as a potential threat.

He claimed that this had caused rank and file officers to adopt an overly aggressive attitude - such as that witnessed at the G20 protests - instead of taking the "defensive posture" which had once been at the heart of British policing tactics.

"Officers are trained to be on guard against attack, to regard every situation, no matter how seemingly benign, as a threat situation. The lesson is that the public are your enemy. That mindset appeared to dominate the G20 protests," he said. Mr Gilbertson, who also served as an assistant Inspector of Constabulary, said the result was that British policing had "morphed into a faux-US style of operation" with "overtly military" uniforms and devices such as extendable batons and Tasers, coupled with an attitude that any form of dissent was "anti-police".

To address this, he said that he and a number of other former members of the Association of Chief Police Officers were now preparing to make a submission to a review of public order policing to be conducted by Denis O'Connor, the new Chief Inspector of Constabulary, in the wake of the G20 protests.

He warned, however, that the problems within the Met reached to the top of the force and said that a "lack of visible and accountable leadership", running right through from the ranks of sergeant, inspector and upwards, meant that a fundamental overhaul was needed.

"There is also a case for a programme to change the mindset of today's young officers, some of whom will be the police leaders of the 2020s and the 2030s," he added.

"They must recognise that the right of lawful protest is inalienable. If they cannot accept this, then perhaps we should consider looking outside the service for the senior officers of tomorrow."

MPs of two parliamentary committees are to scrutinise policing tactics and the handling of the G20 protests.

The first probe will take place tomorrow when the Commons home affairs select committee questions both Mr O'Connor and Nick Hardwick, the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, about alleged police brutality and the "kettling" tactic deployed at the demonstrations.

Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, said MPs "will obviously want to look at what happened at the G20 protests" and the scope of the IPCC investigation.

Mr Hardwick has called on MPs to launch a national debate on how police maintain public order at protests.

He criticised the practice of officers who disguised or removed their identity numbers, saying: "I think that raises serious concerns about the front-line supervision. Why was that happening, why did the supervisor not stop them?

"I think that is unacceptable. It is about being servants, not masters: the police are there as public servants."

Meanwhile, the joint Human Rights Committee, which recently published a highly critical report into public order policing, is considering re-opening its inquiry in the wake of the G20 protests.

Its chairman, Andrew Dismore, said this was because of the "very disturbing" evidence about police actions which had emerged at the G20 protests.

Today Sir Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, attempted to defuse the crisis by praising the majority of officers.

He said: "Those who cross the line must be dealt with. However, those who do not cross the line, the vast and overwhelming majority, deserve our support."

Former Metropolitan Police commander John O'Connor also warned that current Met chief Sir Paul Stephenson risked losing the support of rank and file officers if the investigation into allegations of abuse became a "witch hunt".