Animal rights, public order and police accountability: The Brightlingsea demonstrations

摘要

This article examines the policing, and the aftereffects, of concerted public demonstrations against the export of live animals at Brightlingsea (Essex, England) in 1995. It focuses particularly on leadership, command and control and the crucial question of accountability. The article also describes and assesses the impact, personally and in the broader context of policing public disorder, of summary charges brought against the principal author as a consequence of his leadership/ management in the events at Brightlingsea.