Last reviewed: 6 April 2024
SERIOUS DISRUPTION PREVENTION ORDERS
- In force from 5th April 2024
- An application for an SDPO cannot be based on any conduct which took place before 5th April 2024. So everyone starts with a clean slate in terms of the two “strikes” required for an SDPO application even if they have prior protest convictions / trials for behaviour that took place previously.
How might this affect organising?
- The guidance indicates that SDPOs will be used to (among other things):
- prohibit individuals from attending protests organised by a group which the individual’s past conduct is associated with, for the duration of the order, or
- require an individual to attend a police station each day during a week of planned protest activity by that group.
- They can also be used to ban people from going to certain places, associating with certain people, carrying certain items, doing certain activities.
- Courts are required to try to avoid making an SDPO which conflicts with the person’s religious beliefs or interferes with their work or education.
- An SDPO has a set duration of anything from 1 week to 2 years and can be renewed once.
So for example, if a protester has an SDPO which was made on the basis of their attendance at XR protests, the terms of their SDPO could ban them from attending XR protests and require them to report to the police station each day of an XR action phase.
SDPOs can also be used to ban people from “using the internet to facilitate or encourage individuals to commit a protest-related offence or a protest-related breach of an injunction or carry out activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals or to an organisation, in England and Wales.”
This could be used to target people in organising or support roles so that they cannot run zoom sessions or potentially even be in signal groups which are used for organising or providing support.
As such, SDPOs could take people out of action or out of organising/support roles for up to a maximum of 4 years (2 years for the order and a further 2 years if renewed).
Where requirements are made around the person’s use of the internet, the guidance states that the order should specify any necessary requirements to enable the police to monitor compliance, which could include the handing over of devices, passwords and/or social media credentials to allow for spot-checks to take place at certain times. This is obviously extremely intrusive and may act as a stronger deterrent than some of the other provisions around SDPOs.
Who is at risk of an SDPO?
An SDPO has to be based on two incidences of protest related behaviour which have to take place after 5th April 2024 and after the person reaches the age of 16. It cannot be made before the person is 18 years old
The police will not be able to apply for SDPOs straight away. They will have to wait until people are convicted for their second protest-related offence / commit a second protest-related breach of injunction after 5th April 2024.
The guidance states:
“It is intended that only the most prolific offenders are given an SDPO. This is to ensure that the number of people with an SDPO is small enough for all police forces in England and Wales to be able to readily identify them and enforce the orders. For example, if an SDPO prohibits an individual from being within a specific area during specific times, local officers should be able to be briefed on the individual and their restrictions and enforce the SDPO.”
When can an SDPO application be made?
There are two ways that an SDPO can be applied for:
- on conviction (by the prosecution), and
- on application by a chief officer of police or a chief constable of the British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary or Ministry of Defence Police.
There is very little difference between the two. They both require that the person has two instances of protest-related conduct, which can be any combination of convictions for protest-related offences or protest-related breach of an injunction for which the individual was found in contempt of court. The court will decide whether something was “protest-related” on the balance of probabilities (ie a greater than 50% probability).
In either case, the court has to consider the SDPO to be necessary for one of the purposes specified in the legislation, being:
- “to prevent P from committing a protest-related offence or a protest-related breach of an injunction;
- to prevent P from carrying out activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals, or to an organisation, in England and Wales;
- to prevent P from causing or contributing to—
- the commission by any other person of a protest-related offence or a protest-related breach of an injunction, or
- the carrying out by any other person of activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals, or to an organisation, in England and Wales;
- to protect two or more individuals, or an organisation, in England and Wales from the risk of serious disruption arising from—
- a protest-related offence,
- a protest related-breach of an injunction, or
- activities related to a protest.”
It seems quite likely that the CPS will apply for SDPOs on conviction where relevant but it remains to be seen whether the courts will be quick to consider that they are necessary.
Penalty for Breach
An individual commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, they:
- fail to do anything they are required to do by the order,
- do anything they are prohibited from doing by the order,
- notify to the police, in purported compliance with the order, any information which they know to be false.
Breaching an SDPO is a summary only offence (magistrate’s court) and the penalty is imprisonment for a maximum of 6-months or an unlimited fine or both.
There is a reasonable excuse defence for breaching an SDPO.
Appeals
The making of an SDPO can be appealed by the individual. Where the SDPO was imposed on conviction, it can be appealed as if it were a sentence for an offence; where the SDPO was imposed on application in the magistrates’ court it can be appealed in the Crown Court.
Variation, Renewal, Discharge
The subject of an SDPO can apply for the order to be varied. However, so can the chief of police of the area where the person lives, the chief of police of the area where they committed an offence, and any chief of police who believes the person is in, or intending to come to, their area.
An SDPO can be renewed once (but not again after that). It appears that an SDPO can be imposed for two years and renewed for another two years.