Police say they prevented attacks by rioters on the Olympic site and London's Oxford Street after picking up intelligence on social networks.Assistant Met Police Commissioner Lynne Owens told a committee of MPs officers learned of possible trouble via Twitter and BlackBerry messenger. But Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin said he had considered asking authorities to switch off social networks.He said they provided intelligence but could also be misleading. A number of politicians, media commentators and members of the police force have suggested that Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) had a role to play in the riots. The BBM system is popular among many young people because it is both private and secure - users are invited to join each other's contacts list using a unique PIN, although once they have done so, messages can be distributed to large groups. Ms Owens said officers had been attempting to sift through an "overwhelming" amount of "chitter chatter" on social networks during last week's riots in London, but some had proved vital."Through Twitter and BBM there was intelligence that the Olympic site, that both Westfields [shopping centres] and Oxford Street were indeed going to be targeted," she told the home affairs select committee. "We were able to secure all those places and indeed there was no damage at any of them." Mr Godwin said that on Monday, when disorder spread to 22 of London's 32 boroughs, police were receiving a new piece of intelligence every second.And while much of the information coming via social media "was obviously wrong and rather silly", he said police did considered trying to shut the networks down in order to prevent them being used to organise further violence. "We did contemplate, I contemplated, asking the authorities to switch it off. The legality of that is very questionable and additionally, it is also a very useful intelligence asset," he said. "So, as a result of that, we did not request that that was turned off, but it is something that we are pursuing as part of our investigative strategy." BlackBerry has offered to co-operate with police investigating the riots - prompting attacks by hackers angry that the company could be prepared to hand over user data to authorities. Asked what BlackBerry's co-operation would involve, Mr Godwin asked to "plead the fifth", adding: "I would rather not answer that question as it is an investigative strategy." Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, which played a key role in coordinating the Met's response, said the riots were "fundamentally different" from the sort of disorder he and the rest of the police force had ever dealt with before. He told the committee the violence was "multi-site" and "far more spontaneous", and there was almost "non-existent pre-intelligence" which could have helped police manage things differently.Sir Hugh also defended the way police resources were managed, insisting there was "a pretty seamless working of the system" which was able to meet all the requests made for additional resources.The senior officers were asked about an apparent spat which broke out between the police and senior ministers over who was responsible for bringing about the surge in officer numbers which returned calm to London.Mr Godwin insisted that the prime minister and home secretary had been "very supportive" and any differences between them were "overplayed"."Sometimes the perception of us at loggerheads is not helpful," he added. From / BBC
GMT 17:42 2018 Wednesday ,31 October
Launch of cargo spacecraft Progress MS-10 to ISS set for 16 NovemberGMT 14:18 2018 Saturday ,27 October
First launch of Soyuz-FG booster after Oct 11 incident scheduled on 16 NovGMT 16:58 2018 Monday ,22 October
Report on Soyuz-FG vehicle malfunction to be approved on 30 OctoberGMT 22:05 2018 Friday ,19 October
NASA chief believes human mission to Mars should become international projectGMT 16:31 2018 Monday ,15 October
Roscosmos chief to inform NASA and ESA on probe into Soyuz booster incidentGMT 18:09 2018 Thursday ,11 October
Russia to provide NASA with full information on Soyuz emergency landingGMT 16:09 2018 Thursday ,11 October
President Putin to receive report on aborted Soyuz space launch to ISSGMT 10:49 2018 Friday ,19 January
Amazon narrows list of 'HQ2' candidates to 20Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor