2. Structure of Back Office
During a mass action
A&LS Back Office (A&LS BO) is staffed by volunteers under the supervision of members of the A&LS BO team. These are the main volunteer roles:
- Back Office Coordinator (BOC)
- Back Office Volunteer (BOV)
- Police Station Support Coordinator (PSSC)
- Police Station Support (PSS)
The BOC tries to ensure that there are enough volunteers covering the phones during planned actions. They will help trouble-shoot any technical issues with systems and answer volunteer enquiries.
The BOV takes arrestee calls either from their phones or from the police station. They work with a structured script and note down details to questions asked of either the arrestee or a police officer into 'ArrestWatch' software. Ideally, there will be two BOV's available for any shift. The shifts are managed via a spreadsheet made available.
The PSSC will help coordinate cover for when a police station 'goes live', i.e. when a rebel is arrested and the police station they are taken to becomes known. They work out the shifts with volunteers.
A PSS volunteer will attend the police station for up to 6 hours at a time to wait for when an arrestee is released. They will offer moral support, snacks, a warm drink and a lift to where the arrestee needs to be taken. Ideally, two people will be on shift at any time.
Normally volunteers take only one of these roles per shift. However, we welcome volunteers willing to be trained for both BOV and PSSC roles; this enables flexibility, including the possibility of taking both roles simultaneously during quiet shifts.
The supervisor is known as the Back Office Coordinator (BOC), and is volunteer's point of contact for enquiries during a shift. The BOC will also oversee workflow, ensure an even distribution of responsibilities during the shift and answer queries via relevant chat channels arising.
There may also be access to a Legal Support Line (LSL), staffed by a member of XR Legal Support, to whom enquiries of a legal nature can be referred.
Communication
Enquiries from volunteers can be made to the Back Office inbox (address in s.9 below), staffed by a member of the A&LS BO team. Short-term Signal groups are set up in association with specific mass actions, and can also be used for some kinds of enquiry. There are additional ways of communicating while on shift.
Between mass actions
We currently aim to run a 24/7 Back Office service staffed by members of the A&LS BO team, augmented on a short-term basis by volunteers if necessitated by a particular action.
The BO inbox is also staffed throughout the year.
Relationships with regional AS systems
Vary from region to region. Systems are evolving and there is no general model. Currently this necessitates negotiations with regions from time to time.