[Imc-uk-features] FIT feature draft

[Jeff Parks]

Doug wrote:

<<The FIT first surfaced in the early 1990s as part of the Public
Order Intelligence Unit, a section of the Public Order Branch (CO11)
of the Metropolitan Police. They were initially targeted at football
fans but have since been extended to cover a wide variety of political
demonstrations, meetings and benefit gigs. Sometimes they are deployed
outside of the Metropolitan area as at the G8 in Scotland for
example.>>

I suggest this instead:

<<The FIT first surfaced in the early 1990s, as part of the Public
Order Intelligence Unit (CO11), a section of the Public Order Branch
of the Metropolitan Police. They were initially targeted at football
fans but were soon extended to cover a wide variety of political
events, and their tactics have more recently been used in town centres
as part of the "community policing" strategy. Sometimes they are
deployed outside of the Metropolitan area, as at the G8 in Scotland
for example, and most UK police forces now have officers trained in
their methods.>>

Something we should be aware of, but possibly can't be worked into
this feature is that the Public Order Branch has not so long ago been
made much bigger and now encompasses:

"Air Support Unit [helicopters], Dog Support Unit, Marine Support
Unit, Mounted Branch, Specialist Firearms Command [ex-SO19],
Territorial Support Group [riot cops], Traffic Criminal Justice Unit,
Traffic OCU, Transport OCU"

as well as Intelligence, Special Events etc.

mit liebe u. wut,
Jeff