Organising legal support

When planning any political action or protest, whether it is a full-scale blockade of a military base or a street stall, consider and plan for police or legal consequences.

Well planned and effective activist legal support can not only be crucial in helping a campaign withstand legal or political repression, but can also serve to open up greater political space for the wider movement and for activists in the future. Asserting and defending our rights in one campaign helps all activists in all campaigns.

Implications for a campaign or activist group

Legal organisation and support becomes particularly important where arrests are planned.

Activist campaigns in Australia have generally three options when facing the consequences of arrests and charges as a result of the campaign:

1. "Abandon" those arrested to organise their own defence. Although very common, this approach, to some extent, represents a betrayal of those willing to risk arrest. In organising an action in which people may be arrested the organising body does take on some responsibility. Even where the "organising body" is diffuse, autonomous or network based, people involved see their actions as part of a wider political struggle. Abandoning activists who have a different political perspective, got arrested for the wrong reasons or because they were too militant is also common.
2. "Passing off the responsibility for the defence of those involved to another organisation such as community legal centres . The prospect of taking on large numbers of arrestees, with little or no reward, is not particularly attractive for under funded community legal centres. While an informal network of sympathetic legal workers may provide services in the case of relatively small numbers of arrestees, in larger scale actions or campaigns a coordinating body is required.
3. Take on responsibility for the legal defence of those arrested and invest the resources of the organisation in their support. For organisations with limited resources this is difficult but possible. Some may argue that providing legal and court support would be diverting resources from the real campaign goals. Well organised activist legal support can help strengthen campaign goals and help create more sustainable and radical campaigns. In Australia, a mixture of the above practices has been evident. If direct action is to remain an effective option in political issues then abandoning activists to face the legal consequences of political action is not a realistic option, despite how easy it at first appears.

See Voluntary and empowered risks as a further resource

Involving lawyers in the planning

Progressive lawyers and activist legal workers should be involved as an integral part of the planning process for protest actions and campaigns.

If there is a chance of community legal centres being utilised at a later date, it may be a good idea to meet with your local centre and inform them of the campaign or action.

Involve legal workers as early as possible, not only after people have been arrested and charged. If possible, organise a lawyer to be guest speaker at an organisational meeting so that questions can be asked by the group as a whole. Or a legal training could be organised in the lead-up to the action. See Legal training for activists . Don't expect lawyers to do this for free or as a matter of course, and even if they do, don't expect the advice to continue. However you may be able to negotiate an arrangement that will cost nothing for your group.

From this may arise interest from individual lawyers who may choose to help with the legal support team. However if nothing else this will cover the introductions between the lawyers, legal centres and activists.

Educate yourself about the legal system

A basic knowledge of the legal system can be useful for planning campaigns and actions. See DIY legal research on this site.

Seek legal advice

• Whose jurisdiction is the protest site under? Will the State or Federal police be there? Which police command will be involved?

• Is the protest site on public or private land? If it is private who is the owner? Is the protest on Commonwealth land?

• What Acts or legislation are relevant to the action you are planning? Are there local by-laws which may impact?

• What potential charges could be applied to those involved in the action? What are the maximum and likely penalties for these charges? What is the history of these charges being laid by police at similar actions?

• What sort of civil litigation is the campaign or organisation vulnerable to?

• What sort of legal support can be arranged for activists involved?

Once you have all this information it is possible to plan for activist legal support.

Arrange a Legal Support Team

Legal Support Teams are organised groups of activists, legal students, legal workers and lawyers who provide a range of activist legal support work before, during and after the action.

A Legal Support Team may not be able to provide long-term legal representation for activists so a network of supportive lawyers is still important.

Legal briefing and training for activists

For a sample Legal Training Agenda See Legal Training for Activists

Police liaison

Police liaison before an action is something that the campaign or activist group will need to consider early.

Many actions depend on high levels of secrecy for their success and prior liaison with police is not possible. If your action relies of secrecy be aware of issues around surveillance and infiltration by police.

Some activists have strong political standpoints about any sort of communication with police and cite how police liaison can be manipulated by police to control a protest.

Other activists say that prior police liaison can help to minimise the risk that police will overreact to an action and can be useful in reducing the risk of police violence. For some activists, prior disclosure is a strategy aimed at creating dilemma situations for the government.

Liaison can serve to present a respectable face to police, build trust to gain important information, gain negotiating time and space and allow negotiation on minor details of the action without disrupting the entire protest.

Many actions that are publicly promoted, such as marches and rallies, will not be secret and prior police liaison may be undertaken to negotiate details such as traffic control, sound systems or where arrested people may be taken.

If you do decide to liaise with police before an action, ensure that you meet the relevant Operations' commander and always make sure at least two people undertake the role of police liaison in order to minimise the risk of miscommunication and manipulation. It is not necessary to have a lawyer to do the police liaison but having a lawyer present can sometimes be helpful.

Police liaison on-site

Police liaison on site is also important. Have two people to liaise with police when they arrive to ensure that they do not over react to a situation. Ask for the Forward Commander. Good liaison can reduce the risk of police violence and serve to find out what police intend to do and where arrestees will be taken.

If you do not plan for any police liaison on site, consider what will happen as police talk to anyone at the action or target perceived leaders' for liaison.

If people are locked on', up tree platforms, tripods or blockading, some form of police liaison is important for safety reasons.

Guidelines for police liaison

• All police liaison should have the authority and permission of the activist group;

• All police liaison should be done in pairs of people never liaise with police alone;

• Liaison should be with the commanding officer and operational commander of the relevant police unit. This may take some research. Be aware of public relations officers who have no authority. Always ask for the operational commander who has direct control over the officers at the protest site;

• Be clear about how much authority you have to speak, negotiate or mediate on behalf of your group and don't overstep it;

• Prepare what you will say and what information you will or will not provide beforehand. Check with the activist group that all this is okay;

• Be courteous and respectful of police to gain trust. Also demonstrate that you deserve to be treated respectfully;

• Be aware of what you can negotiate about and what is non-negotiable (i.e. the position of the banner may be negotiable but the line of people blockading are committed to staying and this is not);

• Be aware that police may treat women, or people of colour, differently, and may defer to or listen only to men;

• Be aware of police promises, bluffs and threats. You may get coerced into abandoning all or part of the action. Check out what the police actually mean and clarify their points if you are unclear

• Make sure all the information, including threats and promises, is communicated accurately and clearly back to the activists;

• Do not be afraid to highlight inappropriate police behaviour, police violence or excessive force, you may be the only people who have access to the commanding officer; See Complaints against the police

Arrange a Legal (Human Rights) Observer Team

If a Legal Observer Team is not possible, arrange for people to video, record and take notes during the action. Download and use the Arrest Watch Report Forms on this site.

Arrange photo and video coverage

Photo and video coverage of the action can help to deter police violence and provide valuable evidence later. But note that police can act violently in order to seize cameras or tape. Violent assaults on photographers or independent media by police do happen.

Cameras : You can take any person's picture without their permission. The camera just has to be visible. The camera is a powerful weapon. At rallies and demonstrations they are essential. Use them to:

• provide some deterrence to police brutality;

• take pictures of the licence plates that you want to record;

• take pictures of the police, both plain clothes and uniformed. Later witnesses may want to identify the officer;

• take pictures of those you only suspect are police. They may show up later in more interesting circumstances; See Political Surveillances - a guide for activists

• take pictures of those who seem to be provocateurs;

• take pictures of any "incident", including arrests. These can be useful for media and in court;

• stand back and get shots of the whole area and general layout. This helps in court too.
  

Plan to prevent police from seizing your camera, disk or tape. If you have a useful image, keep it safe from police and make it available to those involved in the Legal Support Team.

However, when there are many cameras it is possible to get pictures of these "accidents" where cameras are destroyed or of the police officer posing his palm for a photograph.

Bring enough film, tape or disks! Preserving the photographic evidence for the court is critical. The main problem is that of "continuity". In the court it is necessary to show a continuous chain of possession of the film, negatives and prints. This must be done to counter any suggestion that these items have been tampered with.

It is necessary to have the negatives so that it can be established that the prints are in fact derived from the negatives etc. Also, it must be shown that the prints made were not selected to avoid the more damaging evidence (or to provide only the damaging evidence).

Remember that footage you record can be evidence that cuts both ways. If accurate, the footage will reflect the conduct of all participants at an action, eg. police, activists and their behaviour.

Independent media

Note that you will generally have to call to court the person who took the image if you want to use it as evidence.

Monitoring arrests

If anyone is arrested at the action, the Legal Support Team should be carefully taking notes of their arrest and monitoring their location and well-being at all times. Download and use the Arrest Watch Report Forms and the Arrestee Tracking Sheet on this site. It is vital that everybody is accounted for.

Legal Support should repeatedly contact the police to monitor the situation, until the person is released.

If a lawyer is available to do this monitoring police are sometimes more cautious, but any Legal Support person can effectively monitor the arrestee.

Preferably, the lawyer should attend the police station, so that any interview with the arrested person can also be monitored. However a lawyer's phone contact with police on behalf of the arrested person is also valuable, and any police refusal to allow a lawyer access to their client may be used in evidence later on.

Let police know the arrested person has friends and Legal Support who will constantly monitor that person's situation (even if this may irritate police) until the person is released.

This contact will make police more careful in several ways: more careful about violence in the cells, more careful about concocting evidence, and more anxious to get rid of their embarrassing prisoner.

For those arrested, charged or injured by police, the consequences of participation in the action may extend well beyond the action itself. If activists are arrested and charged as a result of this action, then activist legal support may need to continue for months if not years after the action.

One of the most difficult features of the legal process is the time it takes to reach a decision. A not-guilty plea in magistrates' courts will generally take many months before a decision is reached. However if the case goes to appeal, even minor matters can take years before they are resolved. The presence of on going legal/organisational support is essential.

The responses to criminal charges may also affect the aims of the action itself. Will it build or undermine support for the campaign? Will a plea of guilty or a court loss create a precedent for future actions? How will this court case affect the campaign strategy?

Because court cases can be a long, intimidating and isolating experience for activists, support and solidarity is vital. It may be important to plan:

• Legal support and representation, arranging for pro-bono legal representation and finding the best barrister for the cases;

• An Arrestees Support Group to keep everyone on charges together to plan and support each other;

• Benefits and fundraisers to raise legal costs. These can also raise awareness about the campaign;

• Use of the media around the court appearances to highlight the issues, media conferences outside the court;

• Celebration and debriefing for the activists after the court case, whatever the outcome;

• Support before, during and after a jail term for some or all of the activists;