New Special Branch guidelines
01 January 1991
New Special Branch guidelines
artdoc March=1995
New guidelines for the Special Branch were jointly issued by the
Home Office and the Scottish Office in July. The guidelines were
first issued in 1971 but never published. The revised guidelines
in 1984 were published. Under the 1984 guidelines the Special
Branch `assisted' MI5 in its work on espionage, sabotage and
subversion but it gave intelligence on suspected IRA members and
their activities to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch. The
lead role for combatting the IRA was transferred to MI5 in 1992.
The new guidelines however show that in major areas of their work
the Special Branch now serves MI5, the Security Service. The
other major shift is the increased emphasis given to public
order, with `animal rights extremists' singled out for special
attention.
The Special Branch is part of the police force, each of the 52
forces in the UK have a Special Branch. Its officers are
recruited from the uniformed branch of the police and have the
same powers of arrest. The size of the Special Branch rose in the
1980s. The present figures, excluding civilian staff, are around
(1978 figures in brackets): Metropolitan Police Special Branch:
520 (409); England and Wales outside London: 1,400 (850);
Scotland: 100+ ; Northern Ireland: 280+ . Below is a summary of
the main points in the guidelines.
Functions
Special Branches exist primarily to acquire intelligence, to
assess its potential operational value, and to contribute more
generally to its interpretation. They do so both to meet local
policing needs and also to assist the Security Service in
carrying out its statutory duty under the Security Service Act
1989 - namely the protection of national security and, in
particular, protection against threats from espionage, terrorism,
and sabotage, from the activities of agents of foreign powers and
from actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary
democracy by political, industrial or violent means. The Security
Service provides advice to Chief Officers [of police] about its
requirements for assistance in their force area. (para.3)
Counter-terrorism
...countering the threat from terrorism, originating within and
outside the United Kingdom, is the most important single function
of the Special Branch. In partnership with the Security Service,
Special Branches acquire intelligence on those who may be
responsible for acts and threats of terrorism, their sponsors and
supporters. When necessary, they take action to prevent or
disrupt any developing terrorist activity (para.4).
Information about terrorism obtained by Special Branches is
provided to the Security Service, which is the lead agency for
the acquisition, assessment, dissemination and exploitation of
intelligence on terrorism in Great Britain [a term which excludes
Northern Ireland]. In the case of Irish republican terrorism in
Great Britain, such information is copied to the Metropolitan
Police Special Branch(para.5).
The Special Branch provides `armed personal protection for people
'judged to be at risk' visiting their police area. A large number
of Special Branch officers are assigned to work at ports and
airports as part of their counter-terrorist duties, `Their task
is to seek and gather information, [and] identify persons of
interest...' (paras.7 & 8). `The other areas in which Special
Branches may be asked to assist the Security Service... are':
Counter-espionage:
Special Branches will continue to be involved in gathering and
exploiting intelligence relating to covert or illegal attempts
to gather information and material of assistance to another State
(para.11).
Counter-proliferation:
Special Branches will investigate proliferation activities which
are assessed to be a threat to national security (para.11).
Counter-subversion:
Special Branches will continue to investigate subversive activity
though, as with counter-espionage,<