How is the National Domestic Extremism Unit involved in obtaining Protection from Harassment Act injunctions?
"Acquiring an injunction is the responsibility of the company or organisation, their legal team and the courts.
"As a police unit it is our role to remain impartial and as a result we do not have any direct involvement in obtaining injunctions, unless specially asked to provide evidence and information at the court hearing for the injunction application. Anything we say in court is placed on the court record and is available to the general public.
"We would only provide evidence or information upon a formal request by a lawyer acting as an Officer of the Court. Requests for such evidence/information for police held information/evidence would be made under Section 35 (2) of the Data Protection Act 1997; by Court Procedure Rules 37 (7) or by subpoena.
"If a lawyer or a company ask us for evidence as part of an injunction application, before the injunction court hearing, we will provide them the details of a force or the names of police officers who may be able to help. The passing of this contact information is a central part of the tactical and coordination remit of our unit.
"NETCU also provides generic information to companies and organisations about injunctions and the process involved, in it's capacity for preventing domestic extremism."
More information about injunctions can be found here.
