In the wake of the 2009 G20 in London, the Adapting to Protest reports drew on scientific research into crowds and dialogue policing models to recommend wholesale changes to public order policing. One of the key tactics introduced at this point were Police Liaison Teams (PLTs) which sought to provide a link between the police and protest groups. The aim was to build trust, increase perceptions of police legitimacy and reduce the risk of disorder. The number of PLTs has increased significantly since this point, and they are increasingly viewed as one of the most important protest event tactics available to commanders. By some accounts, the global COP26 summit held in Glasgow in 2021 saw the largest deployment of PLTs in the UK. Their engagement with protestors is credited by some for the minimal levels of disorder and numbers of arrests.

In the past year, however, the use of more disruptive protest tactics has led to a hardening of attitudes. In England and Wales, the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and Public Order Act 2023 will broaden the range of circumstances in which police may impose conditions on a protest. They introduce a new offence of being equipped for locking on, and new power to stop and search and pre-emptively arrest protestors. Whilst not applicable in Scotland, the actions of forces elsewhere in the UK have knock-on impacts here as seen during COP26. Commentators have suggested that these Acts will serve to delegitimise protestors in the eyes of police, and police in the eyes of protestors. The role of PLTs at this point, therefore, become both more crucial and more difficult.

This workshop brings together academics and practitioners – not least senior and front-line police officers engaged in public order operations and training in Scotland – to reflect on key lessons that can be learned. It will explore innovations in proactive liaison policing and reflect on training and practice with a view to identifying and sharing experiences in this difficult area. The format will involve a series of short presentations rather than lengthy lectures, with an emphasis on shared discussion of key themes and issues.

Since the focus is on knowledge exchange the main outputs will be user-friendly summaries. The discussions and findings will be disseminated by means of a briefing note to be circulated amongst conference participants and made more widely available through the websites of both the Scottish Institute of Policing Research and the University of Edinburgh. The workshop will additionally aim to create a network of scholars and practitioners with a view to hosting future events on similar themes.