Some police actions during the G20 protests risked undermining the sacrifice of officers who have given their lives protecting the public, the police watchdog has warned.

Chief inspector of constabulary Denis O'Connor, who is conducting a review of public order policing tactics, said some of the footage from the demonstration showed "unacceptable" behaviour.

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr O'Connor referred to the heroism of Pc Gary Toms, who died last week after trying to stop a fleeing vehicle in south London.

He said: "My concern was obviously about the individual incidents where officers, on the face of it, appeared to break with their colleagues and assault people.

"We in this country expect the very best from our police, quite properly, and police officers who give their lives - as Gary Toms did, sadly, very recently - they do it for a very noble cause.

"So when you see something that does not square with that noble cause, it is disappointing and hugely concerning."He added: "What I saw was unacceptable."


The Guardian is reporting the following;

The new chief inspector of constabulary has told MPs that it is "utterly unacceptable" for police to disguise theirNews identifying numbers while policing demonstrations.

Denis O'Connor, a former Metropolitan police officer and chief constable of Surrey, told MPs on the Commons home affairs select committee that there was no rationale for it and it was a practice that would cease.

Demonstrators at the G20 protests earlier this month have complained that police refused to display their badges, meaning they could not be identified.

Mr O'Connor said: "It is utterly unacceptable to be not wearing their numerals. I am very concerned with that issue. I firmly hope that will be rectified with some certainty … I would expect people in public order and other situations to wear their numbers … it acts as a good check and balance."

He told the committee's chairman, Keith Vaz, that he had been "very concerned" to see the film extracts showing demonstrators apparently being attacked by officers during the demonstrations, and that he had spoken to the Met police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, about them.

He said: "Those images naturally would be very concerning. What I saw did not impress me that this was the British way. It was unacceptable."

O'Connor added that the police tactic of kettling – restricting demonstrators and other members of the public within a confined area – needed to be reviewed: "I think this has to be looked at to see what it achieves, and also [its] cost … particularly if it is used inflexibly."

Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, also giving evidence to the committee, said that officers had "an absolute obligation" to have visible identification and failure to do so would be a disciplinary offence.

He told the MPs that the IPCC has received about 185 complaints about the policing of the demonstrations, about 50 of which were complaints of being attacked by the police or having witnessed alleged assaults. A third of the commission's investigators are involved in its examination of the incidents.

Mr Hardwick said the police needed to discuss their tactics more openly and to engage the public in their discussions. He referred to "distraction tactics", including violence, which officers were trained to use if they were placed in danger or under threat and which could include punching or kicking so long as it was proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances.

"Sometimes on film it will look very ugly. My point is the police themselves need to explain better that is what [they] are trained to do. These are the consequences. People are capable of having a mature discussion about that."

He added that he did not believe web footage of incidents at the demonstrations would prejudice subsequent legal proceedings. "We would rather it was not on the web but I don't think it is a serious risk and we have to deal with the world as it is rather than as we would wish it to be. We are dealing with a public event and 24-hours-a-day media."