This is a must read Keith Taylors first hand account of policing at fracking sites and how much it is costing 'On arriving at the site, situated in a beautiful part of God’s Own County, the first thing that struck me was the sheer scale of the policing operation. The number of boots on the ground was completely disproportionate to the criminal threat posed by a small group of peaceful local residents. One of those residents was the very gentle and lovely Jackie Brookes who has decided to express her opposition to fracking in her community in the most Yorkshire way possible – by keeping campaigners, and officers, topped up with tea and cake. However, on the day of my visit, officers had taken exception to the location of Jackie’s tea stall. She was told to move it further away from the entrance to the site. But before she had even received an answer to her question about the legal basis for asking her to move, Jackie’s stall was stormed by at least 15 – by my count – officers who proceeded to kettle the 79-year-old — to a chorus of ‘shame on you’ from fellow residents. The police response was a frightening overreaction. It amounted to little more than the bullying and intimidation of visibly shaken grandmother whose only crime was being a ‘radical’ in charge of a teacake. In the end, though, the bullying and intimidation worked. Jackie – the dangerous teapot terrorist – was herself terrorised into moving away from her stall before the police moved in to dismantle it. The operation was shocking. Taxpayers are forking out almost £250,000 a month so that North Yorkshire Police can maintain such an unnecessarily heavy presence on site. Not only is it not a good use of taxpayer money to deploy over a dozen officers to bully a grandmother into submission, but it isn’t good policing either.' The whole report can be seen on the link http://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/2017/11/27/kettling-tea-ladies-hardline-policing-of-fracking-demos-is-out-of-control/