Legal representation is the first thing to consider after being charged with an offence.
Do you have a solicitor experienced in protest cases?

Yes: Get in touch with them as soon as possible
No: Contact one of the recommend solicitors listed here

For a more detailed overview of the role of solicitors in defence cases, please consult this handy guide produced by the Legal Defence Monitoring Group (LDMG).

1 Legal Costs and Legal Aid
2 Representing Yourself
3 Putting in the Legwork

1. Legal Costs and Legal Aid

Having a solicitor represent you costs money. If you cannot afford the cost of legal representation, the state may pay part or all of your fees via a scheme known as ‘Legal Aid’. Whether you qualify for legal aid or not depends on your financial circumstances and and the seriousness and complexity of your case. Sadly, due to cuts, much fewer people now qualify. However: if your case is a serious one and/or you are unemployed or or on a low income, there is a good chance you will receive some form of state support with legal costs if you are prosecuted.

Solicitors sometimes agree to represent people who don’t qualify for legal aid, because one or more of their co-defendants does, allowing people to effectively ‘piggyback’ on the aid other people receive. If you do not qualify and are being tried as part of a group involving others who do, it is worth asking your solicitor about whether this is a possibility (assuming you have the same one). If you wish to find out if you qualify for legal aid you should contact one of our recommended solicitors.

More information on eligibility is available on the Citizens’ Advice Bureau website.

Solicitors' bills and fines are not the only costs you might face if you are prosecuted – travelling to and from court can be a costly business, particularly if the court is at the other end of the country

2. Representing Yourself

If you cannot afford or do not want to be represented by a solicitor, you will need to represent yourself in court. If you are doing this for the first time, we strongly recommend you get in contact with us or with LDMG, as we can help support you through this process. A detailed guide to defending yourself – produced by the Civil Liberties Trust and annotated by LDMG – is also available here. Defendants who represent themselves in court can – at the discretion of the judge – have someone stood with them during proceedings called a McKenzie friend. If you would like someone to act as a McKenzie Friend during your court appearances, please contact the Activist Court Aid Brigade.

3. Putting in the Legwork

Even if you do end up being represented by a solicitor, this does not mean you can simply let them get on with it without any input from you. It is important for you to:
1) Keep in contact with them.
2) Assist them in building a strong defence case by gathering evidence (e.g. film footage) and witnesses.

The process of being prosecuted can be broken down into different stages.

In this section, we will concern ourselves with the stages from the Initial Hearing to the Trial. The next two sections cover Judgment and Sentencing, while the process of charged is examined in detail in our guide to arrest.

The Initial Hearing

If you are charged with an offence, the ‘charge sheet’ presented to you by the police will specify the date for an initial hearing. This will take place at a magistrates court. This initial hearing is not your trial. Defendants are expected to surrender to the court 30 minutes before their hearing time. So if your charge sheet says your hearing time is 9:00am, you should aim to get there for at least 8:30am.

At the initial hearing, the magistrates will decide what kind of court your trial will be heard in: a magistrates court (presided over by 3 lay persons or one stipendiary magistrate) or a crown court (presided over by a professional judge, and jury). Some minor offences – such as willful obstruction of the highway – can only be heard in a magistrates (‘summary only offences’), while other more serious offences can only be heard in a crown court (‘indictable only offences’). There are also what are known as ‘triable either way’ which means that they can be heard in either type of court. In such cases, the magistrates at your initial hearing will decide on whether your case is simple enough to be tried by them or instead ought to be moved to a crown court.

If your case is to be heard in a magistrates, you will then be asked to enter a plea of ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’. If your case is to be heard in a crown court, the court will adjourn and a later date will be set at a crown court for what is known as the Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing (PTPH), at which you will also enter a plea.

1. Entering a Plea

Activists are sometimes keen to plead guilty to an offence simply to get legal proceedings over and done with as quickly as possible, particularly when their supposed offence is a minor, non-imprisonable one such as obstruction of the highway. However, it is worth giving serious consideration to pleading ‘not guilty’. Many things can and do go wrong with prosecution cases and sometimes the evidence brought against activists is so flimsy that the CPS and the police seem to just be hoping that people will automatically accept their own guilt.
In one recent example, an anti-fracking activist – charged with using threatening or abusive language in a manner that was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress – had the case against them dismissed by magistrates because the prosecution’s only evidence was the testimony of one police officer who did not claim they were left feeling harassed, alarmed or distressed.
If you plead ‘guilty’ then proceedings will move directly to sentencing. If you plead ‘not guilty’ then several things will happen:

- The magistrate will make arrangements for the trial hearing, i.e. the date, length and place.
- Bail will be set again, often the bail conditions will be dropped or changed.
- Other dates may be set, e.g. for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service – they conduct the case for the police) to provide (disclose) their evidence.
- Both the defence and the prosecution will be asked to address questions relating to ‘trial preparation'(formerly ‘case management’ – for more on this, see below).

2. Bail

At the initial hearing the court might decide to either uphold or impose (fresh) bail conditions upon you, such as banning you from a protest camp or being on a particular stretch of road. These conditions can be challenged by your solicitor or yourself, if you are self-representing. Breaking bail conditions is not itself an offence, although failing to surrender at the allotted date and time is. If you do break conditions you can be arrested and held on remand (i.e. in custody) until your next trial date. However: you cannot be remanded if the offence you are charged with does not carry the possibility of a custodial sentence. As such, if you are charged only with having willfully obstructed the highway – which is not an imprisonable offence – you will not be remanded for breaking any bail conditions.

If you break conditions relating to an imprisonable offence, you could be held in custody until your next court date to prevent you committing further offences. Magistrates take failure to comply with conditions imposed by them – rather than the police – much more seriously and it is ultimately they who decide whether or not to remand you.

Trial Preparation/Case Management

Trial preparation (formerly case management) is an early stage in the prosecution process in which the court attempts to identify what the core issues in dispute are and to determine whether or not they can be narrowed down before trial. This will usually involve both sides producing a list of witnesses they intend to call during the trial and outlining to the court the general arc of their case.

On the basis of the submissions given by both the prosecution and the defence, the magistrate(s)/judge will make a decision as regards to when the trial will take place and how long it is likely to take (effectively: how many days to book out the court for). They will then possibly give further directions concerning when the prosecution have to disclose all their evidence or the date by which the defence has to serve the prosecution with an outline of their arguments (the defence statement).

Discussions around trial preparation or case management take place after the defendant has entered their plea. Thus: for trials in the magistrates, it takes place during the initial hearing, while in the crown court, it occurs at the Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing.

Trial

At the trial the prosecution will attempt to prove to the court that you have committed the offence of which you have been charged. Often this will involve them calling witnesses and discussing physical evidence such as CCTV footage or forensic data. Your solicitor (or, if you are self-representing, you) will be given a chance to question (‘cross examine’) the witnesses for the prosecution. Once the prosecution has finished putting forward their case, it is your turn and you or your representative will attempt to show the court that you did not commit the crime in question.

The court process can end in different ways. Many protest cases do not get as far as sentencing, and it is extremely rare to get a prison sentence.

If you are charged with a criminal offence, there are four possible outcomes:

1. The CPS may drop the case against you altogether – this can happen at any stage of the proceedings, even on the day of the trial itself.
2. The judge or magistrate may throw the case out. Again this can happen at any stage, but most frequently would be during the trial, for example if the police did not turn up to give evidence, or the judge thought your defence case was strong enough by halfway through the trial.
3. The trial may proceed to its end and you may be found not guilty of the alleged offence.
4. You may decide to plead guilty or you may be found guilty at the end of the trial. There will then be a sentence given to you. Sometimes this will happen at the end of the trial itself, but often it does not. If you are possibly facing time in prison, the judge will ask the Probation Service for a ‘Pre-Sentence Report’ (PSR), and a further date will be set for sentencing. You may then decide to appeal against the verdict or the sentence. In that case, the legal procedure, will continue.

If you wish to appeal your sentence: either speak to your solicitor or, if you are self-representing, contact Activist Court Aid Brigade.

If you either plead or are found guilty, the judge will pass a sentence.

Sentences usually consist of a fine, a suspended sentence or a community order (which could require you to perform community service, not enter a certain area etc). On the very very rare occasions that a custodial sentence (prison) is given, there are other groups – such as your local branch of the Anarchist Black Cross- that can help support you both before and during your time inside.

Detailed sentencing guidelines for offences tried in magistrates courts (i.e. those offences which are ‘summary only’ such as willful obstruction of the highway, or ‘either way’ offences which can be tried in the magistrates such as theft) are available here. But for ease of reference, the following table sets out the sentences you could expect to receive if you were convicted of the most common protest related offences:

Prosecution Costs:
In the event that you are found guilty, the CPS will ask the court for a contribution – from you – towards the costs they have incurred in bringing this case (i.e. fees for the CPS solicitors etc). The amount you will be required to pay is ultimately decided by the judge/magistrate(s) but is dependent on a number of factors including, for example, if and when in the proceedings you plead guilty, whether you are in a magistrates or a crown court and what kind of hearing it was (e.g. an appeal of sentence as opposed to a trial).

More information on the costs scale used by the CPS and the courts is available here.

Victim Surcharge:
In addition to any fine handed to you by the court and an amount for prosecution costs, individuals convicted of criminal offences are obliged to pay what is called a ‘victim surcharge’. How much you are obliged to pay depends on the sentence you are given but it ranges from £20 to £170.

Making a Claim Against the Police:
If your case is thrown out or dropped along the way, you could consider taking a civil action against the police. Get in touch with us and we can advise you on how best to do this. There is also a guide to making civil claims against the police on our website.

1. My bail sheet says I have to report to a police station/court on a certain date – What happens if I cannot make that date?

If, for whatever reason, you are unable to report to a police station/court on the date given on your bail sheet, you should let your solicitor know at the earliest possible opportunity. If you are representing yourself please get in contact with us.

2. What happens if I fail to turn up at all?

Failure to surrender to bail – failing to turn on the date given on your bail sheet whether to a court or to return to a police station – is a crime (Section 6 Bail Act 1976). Although it should be said, the courts take failure to surrender to the cops far less seriously than skipping court and CPS guidelines state that failure to answer police bail should not be prosecuted at all where the substantive case is dropped. The likelihood of the police actively pursuing your arrest and the severity of any punishment you may eventually incur will depend on the perceived severity of the offence (and, of course, whether you are convicted). But if you fail to attend a court hearing, we recommend getting in touch with your lawyer and/or us as soon as possible.

3. Will a conviction impact my employability?

Employers can’t turn someone down for a job because they’ve been convicted of an offence if the conviction or caution is ‘spent’ – unless an exception applies (see below). Convictions with a sentence of 4 years or less will become spent after a certain period of time. This is known as a ‘rehabilitation period’. Its length depends on how severe the penalty was. You can find out the rehabilitation periods of different penalities here.

A very small number of jobs do require you to disclose spent convictions, as these job are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. These exceptions include working in the medical profession, solicitors, accountants, school-based jobs and other roles involving the supervision of people under the age of 18. Criminal record checks are typically required to take up these roles and spent convictions and cautions will be recorded by them.

Very few jobs (outside of being a police officer) require you to have no criminal record at all, although certain convictions can debar you from becoming a solicitor (and even minor offences can make it significantly harder). Unless you have been convicted for a serious violence offence, supplying drugs or sexual offences, having a criminal record will not necessarily prevent you from working with children. Whether or not it makes it harder depends on the attitudes of your potential employer and the circumstances of your supposed wrongdoing.

More information on how a criminal record might impact your paid or voluntary work is available from the Unlock Information Hub.

4. Can I crowdfund the money I need to pay a fine?

We advise against explicitly crowd funding to pay fines, as it could – in theory – encourage the court to increase the figure you have to pay (as a crowdfunder campaign could be seen as increasing your means). However, there is no problem with crowd funding for court costs and general campaign expenses – including travel expenses.

Your presence outside the police station can have a dramatic impact on how the arrestee reflects upon their arrest and is an important action of solidarity to support protest as a whole.

Simply being outside a police station to meet someone released from custody is valuable and appreciated.

Your role as police station support is:

- To greet and emotionally support arrestees as they leave the police station
- To gather contact details, and where possible information about the arrest and release
- To offer something to eat and drink, and to help with transport and somewhere to stay
- To liaise with the Legal Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line, the solicitor(s), any appropriate adults and the staff of the police station to ensure that all those arrested receive the right support
- To pass on information about what to do next and what practical, legal and emotional support is available

Doing station support on your own is not a good idea – always try to work with other people unless unavoidable. See if you can work in buddies, so you’re always with someone else.

- Information on what support we offer can be found in the I’ve been Arrested! guide.

You might have planned in advance to be doing station support for arrestees from a particular action or it may have come as a surprise.

Setting up a Station Support Group in Advance

If you’re planning an action it’s a good idea to plan station support in advance, especially if you think arrests are likely (and remember that police behaviour is often unpredictable so it’s best to be prepared just in case!)

- Gather together a group of people who are willing to do station support. This may be people who will be at the protest or other people sympathetic to the cause. If someone has access to a car this is even better, as arrestees could be taken to a police station that’s far away where they need to get back to.
- Make sure everyone has read this guide and understands their role.
- Sort out a rota with shifts and buddies. How formal or informal this will be depends on the size and nature of the protest and supporters. Most importantly, ensure there are at least two people available at all times, and a few people who can cover shifts overnight and into the early hours of the morning.
- If you can, try to build up a few station support kits containing the items set out below. Aim to have one kit per police station.
- Set up a form of communication for the station support crew. A good way of doing this is through a group chat on a secure messaging app such as Signal. If applicable, the people doing Back Office may wish to join this chat to make communication easier. Some groups have a designated person coordinating station support; others coordinate station support through the Back Office; and others coordinate themselves through a group chat or via other means. Find out what works best for your group.
- Have someone on the ground who’s in communication with the Legal Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line and with station support crews throughout the action and after, reporting any arrests to the people who are planning to head out to support.
- A few days after the action and the station support, you may find it appropriate to have a debrief or to call each other to check how you’re all doing. Support is valuable and appreciated, but can also be draining and invisiblised work.

If You Witness an Arrest and Want to Support

- Try to find out where the arrestee is being taken by asking Legal Observers, or, if there are none around, the arresting police officers. If they don’t know or don’t tell you, call the Legal Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line (07946 541 511) to say that you want to be kept updated.
- You don’t need to go to the police station as soon as you see an arrest – it usually takes a while for arrestees to be taken to the station and booked in. Use this time to gather some other people to support with you, especially if there’s not a station support group set up already, and as many things from the below list as you can.
- Share this guide with your fellow supporters.

If You Receive a Custody Call and Want to Support

You may receive a custody call from a friend or family member who’s been arrested. In the call, make sure to find out what station they’re at, and advise them to use a trusted protest solicitor.

- Inform the Legal Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line of the name/alias of the arrestee, what station they’re at, and any other information you have about their arrest. Let them know that you’re heading to the police station.
- See if you can get some other people to do support with you, and take this guide, some food, and as many of the other items listed below as you can along with you.

It is usual for arrestees to have their belongings taken away by the police – phones, wallets, and sometimes clothes.

See if you can take with you:

- This guide
- A mobile phone and charger and lots of credit
- Food and drink – for yourself and for the arrestees once they are released
- Try to ensure that this meets dietary requirements of arrestees (vegan, halal, kosher, allergen-free etc.) and is high-energy
- Police Station Release Forms (one for every person who’s been arrested)
- Arrestee Information leaflets (one for every person who’s been arrested)
- Some money to pay for taxi fares, food, hot drinks, and possibly accommodation for released arrestees
- Pens/pencils and a notebook – you may want to make extra notes
- Plain travel cards (if applicable) for arrestees to travel after release
- Warm clothing, foil blankets and raincoats – you could be hanging around late at night
- A pen torch in case it gets dark
- A few bustcards
- Basic first aid and health supplies, including Queercare RAISED cards (see Appendix for suggested First Aid kit list).
- Phone numbers for:
- The Legal Back Office for the action the arrestees were arrested it (if applicable), or otherwise, the Protest Legal Support Helpline: 07946 541 511
- The solicitors you know or think the arrestees will use
- Any friends or family members who want to be kept in the loop
- The custody desk for the police station you are at
- A few local taxi numbers
- Safer spaces, local B&Bs or other local accommodation wherever possible
- Information about local transport and accomodation
- Entertainment, such as a book and playing cards
- Patience, empathy and listening skills

Please don’t bring:

- Anything illegal (weapons, drugs etc.) – there is a small chance you could be stopped & searched so don’t incrimimate yourself
- Enemies – sitting outside a police station with someone you strongly dislike is not conducive to a supportive atmosphere!
- Attitude – being seen as confrontational or rude by the cops could condemn arrestees to longer in custody

You don’t need to go to the police station right away after someone’s been arrested – it usually takes a few hours for them to be taken to the station and be booked in, before being held, interviewed and released. It’s a good idea to make sure you’re ready and have everything, including people who can take over support during the night or later on, before heading to a station.

If you’re not sure where an arrestee has been taken, ask a Legal Observer if they know and phone the Protest Legal Support Helpline / Legal Back Office, as they may have more information.

On a large action, there may be a Legal Back Office using its own number, which often coordinates station support. Otherwise, the Protest Legal Support Helpline often has information on arrestees and can offer valuable support & advice

If you are unsure whether there is a Back Office, or who they are, give the Protest Legal Support Line a ring on 07946 541 511.

Please check in with the Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line when you arrive at the police station, to give:

- The name and telephone number you are using
- Your location and how long you can stay for
- Details of any interactions that you’ve already had with the police station front desk or solicitors
- Whether you have all the information you need or if there is anything more that you need
- Information on any other local supporters who might be able to help out with accommodation, transport, food, etc.

Please also phone:

- When someone is released
- To check out when you are leaving the police station
- If you have any queries

In general, please don’t phone if it’s after midnight – in this case check in the following day.
If you have any significant concerns or worries then please do not hesitate to call at any time.

You may feel perfectly able to walk into the police station and open a dialogue with the desk staff. Desk staff are human beings and will hopefully respond to you. If not, or if the station is closed, then you’ll have to hang around outside and rely on the solicitor to keep you informed.

Be nice and the desk staff and police might be nice back – but do be prepared – sometimes it can be very difficult to get any information or any cooperation at all from the front desk. The police might even lie to you. Be tenacious but not pushy – the cops are likely to get pissed off at very frequent requests for information. Be confrontational and you may condemn your friends to several hours more detention (yes it does happen!) or even face arrest yourself.

If the police do cooperate, try to find out and make a note of anything you don’t already know:

- How many people are they holding?
- Who they are holding?
- Are they OK?
- Are they being charged?
- What they are charged with?
- Any indication of a release time?
- Some arrestees will choose not to give their name to police officers, so don’t ask about individual people in custody unless you are sure of what name they are using. If you want to get information about a specific person, you can give a description such as, ‘Is the young person with black hair and a white shirt who was arrested at the climate protest today OK?’

You can try to get ‘treats’ (eg. chocolate), newspapers, books or dry clothes to arrestees, but this is up to the police station staff. Be nice and don’t show your annoyance if they refuse. If you know the arrestee personally, you might want to use this opportunity to make sure the police know about people’s dietary and medical needs.

Ask the police to make sure that they release people into your care and not out of a side exit – but don’t be shocked if they say they’ll do that and then do the opposite. If you have enough people, see if you can have supporters monitoring different exits, or take regular trips to check side doors.

If the police station is closed, you may be able to reach the custody desk using a phone or intercom outside. However, this doesn’t always work and the police may be uncooperative. In this situation, you’ll have to wait outside and rely on the Protest Legal Support Line, solicitors and appropriate adults for updates.

Be aware of your own boundaries and wellbeing and that of your buddy. See if you can work in shifts with other people, and take it in turns to have breaks, such as going for a walk.

The arrestee should have been able to call their chosen solicitor from inside the police station.

The Back Office may also have called the solicitors to let them know about the arrests and they may have received calls from the police on behalf of arrestees.

Introduce yourself and your role to solicitors and ask to be kept informed. Suggest that they pop out and chat to you once in a while so that fellow activists and legal support know what’s happening. It’s all too easy for them to swan into the station and be in there for hours with police station support outside none the wiser (and in some cases not even sure that they have arrived!)

If an arrestee is under 18 or seen as a ‘vulnerable adult’ by the cops (PACE Code C), they or the police will usually have called an appropriate adult just after the arrest or from inside the station. The appropriate adult legally needs to be present at any interviews and the arrestee should be released into their care.

If the arrestee is under 18, their appropriate adult will often be their parent or guardian. They may be another over-18, such as a friend, other family member, or employee of the local Youth Offending Team (YOT). The cops usually want the appropriate adult to be a legal guardian or YOT employee, so whilst other people aged over 18 are technically allowed to take this role the police may not allow it.

Some local authorities or local voluntary groups have appropriate adult schemes.

Check if the Back Office / Protest Legal Support Line has contact details for any appropriate adults and if they have any updates on, for example, when they are going to arrive. This can be useful information to relay to the desk staff to pass on to the arrestee.

Some appropriate adults are experienced and understand their role well, whilst others may be confused, unsure and/or upset. Try to create good communication with appropriate adults if you can. As well as offering them food and conversation, you can tell them about your role and the 5 Key Messages, especially No Comment, No Duty Solicitor and No Caution. Let them know the importance of calling a good solicitor, who will provide advice for free at the police station, and recommend a solicitor from the Netpol Lawyers List for them to use. If the arrestee is 16 or under, let the appropriate adult know that they can refuse to let the young person’s photograph and fingerprints be taken (more information on this here).

Give appropriate adults a bustcard and an Arrestee Information Leaflet, and encourage them to call the Protest Legal Support Line if they have any questions.

For some people, police custody may have been fine, for others it might have been traumatic. You need to deal with whatever situation arises and provide appropriate support.

To many people, being arrested is a really big deal. They might be very excited or upset and want to talk about it. Bring your listening skills with you, and some nourishment!

Remember the the 7Fs for release from a police station:

- Food and drink, being conscious of dietary needs
- Friendly and empathetic to the needs and emotions of the arrestee
- First aid and mental health support
- Fill out the Police Station Release form with as much information as they are happy to give – preferably at least contact details so that the Legal Support Team can offer ongoing support
- Future of the case – give them an Arrestee Information Leaflet and outline legal, practical and emotional support available
- Finish up by ensuring that the arrestee has money for transport and knows where they are going to stay
- Phone the Back Office / Support Line to let them know who has been released

See Appendix for information on First Aid and mental health support.

Once the arrestee has taken a moment to enjoy their freedom, and perhaps over a cup of tea, it’s important to ask them for some information.

Use the Police Station Release Form to record information. Contact details are most important, so that ACAB and/or the Legal Support Team of the group organising the protest can follow up to offer further support, and make sure arrestees have good legal support if needed. ACAB not only assist defendants with their defence, but also offer advice on how to sue the police.

Arrestees should have a release form given to them by the police – this will have details on it to help answer questions about the conditions of their release.

If someone is (understandably) wary about giving you their details, ask them to seriously consider getting in touch later on the Protest Support Helpline (07946 541 511) and to check out this website.

Encourage people to write up a statement as to what happened at the time of their arrest, while it is still fresh in their mind, and to keep it safe.

Check they have a solicitor – ask who it is and encourage them to contact one from the Netpol Lawyers List if they don’t have one or if they took the duty solicitor.

If they don’t want ongoing support, ask whether they are happy to give information about their arrest even if not giving their contact details or future court/bail dates – this will help us to understand police/CPS tactics and know who has been arrested and released.

It is also useful to make a brief note of their appearance: in many cases an arrest is called in with a description of the person but not their name. Your description might help to tie together the reported arrest with the arrestee themselves.

If it’s before midnight, please phone the release in to the Protest Legal Support Line / relevant Back Office.

In some cases you might like to install the arrestee into a corner of a nearby warm cafe while you wait for others to be released or while you arrange for them to get a lift home.

Please check out with the Protest Legal Support Line / Back Office when you’re leaving if it’s before midnight, to check who is still in custody, if anyone. If you’re switching shifts with more station support people, make sure to give them all the information you’ve got so far.

Sooner or later all arrestees are likely to be out of police custody. If arrests have taken place in the afternoon or evening this might be the following day (remember that people can be held for up to 24 hours without any additional authorisation).

Some arrestees might be held for longer ‘on remand’, in which case they will be held and put in front of a judge the morning of the next weekday.

Check with the Protest Legal Support Helpline / relevant Back Office or Police Station Support Coordinator that your figures match – ie. the number of people arrested equals the number released and you haven’t forgotten anyone! If you’re still up for it, ask if there are other locations that need police station support.

Please return your completed forms with any notes to ACAB as soon as possible – scan completed forms and email to [email protected], or type up the information into an email. Please ensure you send information from a secure email address (such as Protonmail or Riseup).

Make sure to check in with your fellow police station supporters after you’re done, such as by having a debrief a few days later or texting each other more informally. Police station support is essential and appreciated but it can also be draining, physically and emotionally difficult and work that often seems invisible within movements. We are able to do better support for everyone when we support those who are doing support!

You’ve been awesome. Thank you.

Any Questions? Ring the Protest Legal Support helpline – 07946 541511

Suggested First Aid Kit

This is a suggested First Aid kit list based on what we have found most useful for dealing with the types of injuries people commonly have after arrest and being held in custody. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on this list – just take whatever you can. If you want to buy supplies in advance, Medisave often has First Aid kit at good prices.

- Disposable gloves
- Antibacterial hand sanitiser
- Hot and cold packs
- Wet wipes
- Blue plasters
- Coban
- Medical tape
- Ambulance dressing
- Aftersun
- Sugary sweets or glucose tablets
- Disposable razors
- Menstrual products
- RAISED cards

If you are building a First Aid kit for protest or station support and would like access to supplies and training, you can get in touch with Queercare at [email protected].

Everyone deals with the experience of arrest and being held in custody in different ways. Some people might have found it okay, and others may have found it deeply traumatic. You can never assume what arrest may have been like for someone.

If you’ve been arrested yourself in the past, it’s often not that helpful to talk about your arrest, as other people may have had a totally different experience. Instead of entering a situation with preconceived ideas about how another person might feel, try to be open-minded, non-judgemental and ready to listen.

A helpful acronym to remember for acute mental health support is RAISED.

- Risk: Consider and balance the risks to yourself, the arrestee and others associated with helping the arrestee and decide whether and how much to intervene.
- Affect: Consider the overriding emotion of the crisis (depression/suicidality, panic, perceiving a different reality etc.) and adjust accordingly.
- If the person is panicking, reassure them of the safety and support systems they have and offer assistance to work through or minimise stressors if you can. Don’t minimise the stressors, but assure the person that they’re up to the task.
- If they’re depressed or suicidal, talk about future plans, reassure them that problems can be dealt with, and act as if it’s assumed that they’ll be around to take part in future activities. If you know the arrestee, it can be helpful to plan a low-key meet-up the day after or a few days after the arrest.
- If they’re perceiving a different reality to you, don’t contradict their perception unless they ask you to or told you to do so in advance. Ask questions to help you understand what they’re perceiving, such as ‘That sounds pretty overwhelming, do you think you’d be able to explain how that’s making you feel?’
- If they’re nonverbal, provide time and space, reduce possible stressors (including environment) and offer paper or a digital notebook to pass messages.
- If they appear to be ‘splitting’ or having sudden emotional swings, respect that the person’s emotions are real in the current moment and not ‘fake feelings’ or equivalent. However, try not to internalise behaviour or language about yourself or others if it is different to how the person usually behaves. Use language to describe their feelings, such as ‘It looks like you’re feeling really frustrated right now.’
- In and out: Try to find out when the person last took in food, water, medication and other substances and see if you can provide or limit any of the above. Often arrestees haven’t had adequate food, which can exacerbate panic and feelings of disorientation.
- Stressors: Consider what factors in the person’s life are making things worse, and consider if these can (plan to be) removed or dealt with.
- Environment: Consider environmental factors such as noise, temperature, dangers, triggers and people and see if these can (plan to) be removed. This often means supporting arrestees to go somewhere safer, away from the police station, and potentially travelling with them to get there.
- Diagnosis: Last and least importantly, consider any (informal or otherwise) diagnoses that arrestees may have, and adjust accordingly.

Some people might want to talk about the experience of arrest they’ve just had, and some might not at all – don’t pressure people either way. When listening to someone share how they’re feeling or what’s happened to them you may like to remember the acronym PROBLEMS for active listening:

- Pause: Make sure to leave space for the person to talk and don’t be afraid of silence.
- Rephrase: Paraphrasing something the person has said back in your own words to check an/or illustrate that you understand.
- Open-ended questions: Ask questions starting with words like ‘What’ or ‘How’ rather than those which have yes or no answers.
- Body language: Don’t impose same norms on everyone but mirror some aspects of the person’s body language if you can, such as eye contact/
- Label emotions: Name emotions, such as ‘it seems like you’re feeling really frustrated about this’ or ‘that sounds like it felt really scary’ as a way to validate and show you’re listening even if you don’t agree or can’t relate at all to the actual content of what they’re saying.
- Encouragers: Brief sounds or gestures like ‘uh-huh, ‘I see’, nodding etc show that you’re paying attention without interrupting.
- Mirror : This is the cliched therapist thing of repeating back a few words from someone’s sentence. Don’t overdo this but it can be helpful if you’re stuck about what to say – mirroring and leaving a pause can be good way to encourage someone to expand.
- Summarise – after you’ve been speaking to them, summarise to check that you’ve understood what’s happening with the person and how they feel about it.

Basic First Aid

Major injuries will usually be handled by police medics and hospitals, but it’s good to know some basic First Aid for minor injuries and damage.

Before doing any First Aid, make sure to put on gloves to protect yourself from germs. Encourage arrestees who have been injured during arrest or in custody to make a record of the injury (eg. by taking pictures of the injuries and visiting a GP or walk-in clinic), as they may want to use this as evidence if they later bring a civil claim or complaint against the police.

- Sprains and bruises: Remember the acronym RICE – Rest the injured area as much as possible, apply Ice (wrap a cold pack in some cloth and hold it against the spain/bruise), apply Compression (such as with coban) and Elevate the injured area.
- Loss of feeling in thumbs: Handcuffs commonly cause minor nerve damage, which can mean that arrestees feel a loss of sensation around their thumb, wrist and/or back of the hand and fingers. Reassure arrestees that this is common and usually clears up on its own, but encourage them to visit a GP or a walk-in clinic if it’s still a problem after a few days.
- Grazes: First stop any bleeding by applying pressure to the wound using a clean and absorbent material. Then wash the wound using water (not antiseptic) and apply a sterile adhesive dressing, such as a plaster.
- Someone is cold: Warm them up slowly, especially if they got cold over a long or unknown period of time. If you warm someone up too fast it causes blood to rush to the extremities and can cause unconsciousness. Try to make sure they’re wearing dry, warm clothes and encourage them to wrap themselves in a foil blanket. Place heat packs under their armpits and help them to move to somewhere warm and dry, if possible. Please don’t give people who are very cold hot drinks – this will cause blood to rush to the stomach and can cause loss of consciousness.
- Someone is hot: Offer them sips of water and move to a cool, shady area. Place cold packs under their armpits. If someone is hot and stops sweating; has a throbbing headache; feels sick and is losing consciousness, these are signs of heatstroke – call an ambulance.
- Someone is losing consciousness: If someone is rapidly moving from Disoriented to Irritable to Combative (and eventually to Comatose – DICC), this is a sign that they’re losing consciousness – call an ambulance.

If you are charged:

- Do you have a solicitor?

NO: get in touch with a good solicitor as soon as you can

YES: get in touch with your solicitor as soon as you can and give them the details

- Also get in touch with GBC or ACAB and let us know the details, we can give you help, advice and go along to the court with you.

Start to talk to people who may have witnessed the incident when you were arrested, and start to gather evidence, such as video links.

It is important to go along to the court on the date set.

The courts are public places, trials and hearings are held in public, as an important part of the legal system.

Any one can go into the court building. Court buildings usually have:

- Several court rooms where hearings are actually heard
- Waiting areas outside the court rooms
- Side rooms off the waiting area that can be used for meetings, such as with a solicitor

Court rooms have a public gallery where any member of the public can sit and watch a trial or hearing (although there may occasionally be exceptions to trials being public). Go through the main door into the court room. If you cannot see where the public gallery is ask someone in the court, allthough if you look lost a clerk will usually come over to help you. Sometimes the gallery is a glassed off room, sometimes a row of seats in the court room itself.

It can be a good idea to visit the court building before the first hearing, go into a court room and watch what’s going on, just to get the look and feel of the environment.

Remember to switch off your phone, or switch it to silent, and generally be quiet, when in the public gallery.

You’ll be able to see the defendant from the gallery, who has to go into the ‘dock’, often a glassed off room.

When you first go into the court building you will have an airport style search and your belongings will be x-rayed. Any sprays (e.g. perfume) or sharp instrument, such as bike tools, will be taken from you and may be re-claimed when you leave the building. Knives are a problem, so best left at home.

In the entrance area there will be a list of who is to be heard where. Look for the defendants surname under the list for each court room.

Court staff can be friendly and willing to help you find your way around.

There are many ways to support someone going through the court process, here are some suggestions, but the list is not definitive!

If you arrive at court and the person you are supporting doesn’t have a solicitor yet, phone one immediately who should send someone to court, and tell the court clerk that you are waiting for a solicitor – do not use a duty solicitor if offered. Look at our guide to finding a solicitor.

When you are in the public gallery take notes of everything you hear, e.g. what the magistrate or solicitors say. You are usually allowed to use a lap top, and are always allowed to make written notes. It is forbidden to make sound recordings or make videos or take photos. You can share these later with the prerson you are supporting, or with LDMG/GBC.

A good solicitor will be happy to explain exactly what is going on, you can encourage your friend to ask them questions before or after the hearing.

If there are any parts of the process that aren’t understood, or your friend would like advice about what to do, then get in touch with GBC or LDMG. It may be possible to get immediate help/explanations by phoning the protest support line.

Have some water and snacks. You and your friend may consume these in the waiting areas. In the court room one is only allowed water. Your friend can ask for water in the court room, but sometimes it’s better to have a bottle.

Be prepared for lots of waiting around. The courts sit in two sessions, one starting at 10am, the other after lunch at 2pm. All the cases for the morning or afternoon are listed for the same time. Usually your case will be listed for the morning session, but you may not be heard until mid morning, just before lunch (which is 1pm – 2pm) or even in the afternoon. The courts close at 4pm, but once a case has started may well go on until after 5pm.

However, don’t be tempted to arrive late, the magistrates get very vexed if you aren’t there when they want to hear your case…

There are two kinds of court:

Magistrates courts: the first court one goes to is a magistrates court. They either have a tribunal of 3 magistrates, or a single person sitting on their own. When it’s a tribunal these are lay people, i.e. not trained lawyers, and they are advised on matters of law by the clerk, who sits in front of them. A single magistrate is a professional lawyer, a judge of some description. The judge or magistrates take all the decisions, including the outcome (guilty or not guilty) of a trial.

Crown courts: here there is a judge presiding and a jury who make the not guilty/guilty decision.

It depends on the severity of the charges against the defendant as to which court the trial itself will be held in. Some offences must be heard in the magistrates and some in the crown court, but there are some offences which can be heard in either court, and it is the defendant’s choice.

The crown court can give greater sentences, but on the other hand your case will be heard by a jury. For protest cases a jury might well be sympathetic to the cause, and for this reason we usually reccomend that people choose the crown court, given a choice.

There are usually several processes to go through, involving more than one visit to the courts.

The date given in the charge sheet is for an initial hearing. This is at a magistrates court.

At the initial hearing the charges are read out and the defendant is given the opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. If you are not sure about what you want to do, read the article by LDMG or speak to someone at GBC to get support. If you have a solicitor experienced in protest law then they will be able to offer advice. The advice in general is to plead ‘not guilty’.

If you plead ‘not guilty’ then:

- The magistrate will make arrangements for the trial hearing, i.e. the date, length and place.
- Bail will be set again, often the bail conditions will be dropped or changed.
- Other dates may be set, e.g. for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service – they conduct the case for the police) to provide (disclose) their evidence. A date might be set for a case management hearing.

The next hearing might be what is called a ‘case management hearing’ (CMH). The cps and your solicitor come back into court to see how the case is progressing. You may or may not, have to appear at his hearing if it happens.

The trial will be held at the date set in the initial hearing. It is often held at the same magistrates court, but if the offence is more severe it will be held in front of a jury at a crown court. If you have any witnesses they will not be required until the trial itself.

If you pleaded guilty, or were found guilty at trial, the next step is for the court to give a sentence, including fines and court costs. Sometimes this will happen at the end of the trial itself, but sometimes the judge or magistrate will ask for a pre sentence report (PSR) (made by the probation service), and a further date is set for a sentencing hearing. If a report is called for you will talk to someone from the probation service to arrange a date and time.

You may be represented in court in one of three different ways:

- You may be represented by your solicitor;

- Your solicitor may engage (instruct) a barrister who will represent you in court, meanwhile you will continue to be in touch with your solicitor over any thing to do with your case;

- You may not have a solicitor and are representing yourself. This may because you have decided that you do not want a professional to represent you, for example you have decided to make a political defence, or it may be because you cannot get legal aid and cannot afford to pay for a solicitor. If you are self representing then you are entitled to have some one stand with you in court during any court hearings. The supporting friend is called a McKenzie friend. See the LDMG guide for more information. Also contact ACAB if you would like to talk through your defence and get advice: [email protected]

The court process can end in different ways. Many protest cases do not get as far as sentencing, and it is extremely rare to get a prison sentence.

When it does end then it is the end of the case from your point of view, at this stage you can recover any property the police have taken from you, perhaps at the time of the arrest, and get on with your life…

However if your case is dropped along the way you could consider taking a civil action against the police, we can advise you of how to go about this and there is some information on the LDMG web site.

The CPS may drop the case against you all together – this can happen at any stage of the proceedings, even on the day of the trial itself.

The judge or magistrate may throw the case out. Again this can happen at any stage, but most frequently would be during the trial, for example if the police did not turn up to give evidence, or the judge thought your defence case was strong enough by half way through the trial.

The trial may proceed to its end and you may be found not guilty of the alleged offence.

You may decide to plead guilty or you may be found guilty at the end of the trial. There will then be a sentence given to you which ends the court procedure. Of course this may not be the end of the matter. GBC and LDMG can continue to offer you support following this.

Mostly sentences consist of community work or a fine, or a suspended sentence. On the very very rare occasions that a custodial sentence (prison) is given, again we will give you support during your time inside.

You may decide to appeal against a verdict or a sentence, in that case, of course, the legal procedure, and our support, will continue.

Court monitors perform a vital role in the whole process of supporting people who have been arrested and charged.

As a joint project with LDMG and GBC, we keep a record of everyone we know about who has been arrested at demonstrations, and use this information to provide individual support to those who are going through the legal process.

Interested in becoming a Court Monitor?

We’re always looking for more volunteers to join our team of court monitors, it would be great to hear from you! Email courtsupport[at]riseup.net
As a court monitor, your main task is to attend a court on the day we expect defendants to be appearing.

At court we:
Make contact with defendants we know about and talk to them to…

- Find out how their case is going
- Put them in contact with a good solicitor if necessary (who can often come out immediately)
- Give advice about the whole court process
- Meet their solicitors if possible
- Find out if we can help with witnesses to the event
- Generally be a listening and supportive ear, take people for a coffee/drink after court
- Get their email and phone numbers so we can continue to support them
- Tell them about LDMG and GBC and put them in touch with defendants groups or other defendants (we have leaflets and contact points, and a defendants email list)
- Sit in the public gallery of the court itself and listen to the hearing, making as many notes as possible. It’s not always easy to hear as one is at the back of the court, sometimes in a screened off section, but every bit of information is useful.Find out when and where their next hearing is, and the why it is taking place. This can be gleaned from listening to the hearing and by asking the defendant/solicitor after the hearing.
- Talk to people in the waiting areas to find out if there are other people there from demonstrations to whom we can offer support. It is important not to push ourselves on people – not everyone wants to be in touch with us. Don’t forget to preface saying hello to someone with words to the affect ’I’m from a support group…’ , people waiting might be wary of officials etc.
- If we are talking to people who might be facing prison, then we can also put them in contact with our prison support group (London ABC) and give them information about what to expect.
- Finally, feed back all the information you have gathered so we can update out records. Every small piece of information is useful so don’t worry if you haven’t been able to find out everything you wanted to – it is probably more useful than you realise!

What if I don’t have a legal background and am unsure of the process?

You don’t need to know all the answers to questions asked by defendants. There is a backup team of people who will be at the end of a phone on the day, or later by phone and email. It is important to only tell a defendant something you are absolutely sure about and get advice about anything else.

We often hear from both defendants and their solicitors telling us how useful and supportive our court monitors have been to help people through what can be a difficult and overwhelming process.