Follow Follow can reveal that Greater Manchester Police set up shop in Strathclyde Police's Force Training and Recruitment Centre at East Kilbride last week inviting Strathclyde officers to pop in for up to eight hours of viewing video and still images. This week they have been touring individual stations in the Strathclyde area.
In the week building up to the UEFA Cup Final Greater Manchester Police were a shambles unable to comprehend that the human tidal wave of the "Blue Tsunami" was not going to be put off traveling to Manchester with garbled messages about shut pubs and entrance to squares showing the game on a large screen being restricted to match ticket holders - people with tickets for the match are hardly likely to want to watch it on a screen!
With that level of organisational unpreparedness few can have confidence in "Operation Gale" being anything other than a numbers game - trying to produce a fig leaf by maximising the number of arrests by massaging the terms of reference. One cannot be anything other than cynical about the partiality, context and reliability of any pictures or footage used. Indeed, in the appeal for Strathclyde officers to come forward the Manchester force admits the operation is not "an exact science." Not exactly a comfort when your door is mistakenly put in at five in the morning.
Should you have the misfortune to become the subject this spurious enquiry say nothing other than to confirm your personal details, apart from that say absolutely nothing. For legal representation in Manchester we recommend you contact Robert Lizar Solicitors.
