National Domestic Extremism Unit

This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of SpinWatch.

This article is part of the Undercover Research Portal at PowerBase - investigating corporate and police spying on activists.

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Part of a series on Undercover Police Units
National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU)
Alias:	National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE), National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU)
Parent Units:	Association of Chief Police Officers (Terrorism and Allied Matters), Counter Terrorism Command
Sub-Units:	NPOIU, National Domestic Extremism Team, NETCU, Confidential Intelligence Unit
Targets:	Domestic Extremism
Dates:	2004 to present

The National Domestic Extremism Unit refers to specialist police organisation that began life as the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE), and was subsequently renamed the National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU) and more recently the National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU). For much of its history it was controlled by the Association of Chief Police Officers' Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, before being transferred to the the Metropolitan Police Service's Counter Terrorism Command in the wake of the Mark Kennedy undercover scandal. There, in April 2016, its functions were merged into the National Counter Terrorism Police Operations Centre (NCT-POC), since renamed the Counter Terrorism and Policing National Operations Centre (CTP-NOC).

During its time under the control of ACPO, the NDEU consisted of a group of police units, several of which have gained national attention for their role in the policing of protests and deployment of undercover police into political and activist movements. These units were the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU), National Domestic Extremism Team (NDET). Many began as separate units, or created out of the merger of smaller units around the UK. It was a sub-unit of the NPOIU, the Confidential Intelligence Unit, which ran a number of infiltrators that targeted protest movements.

The unit is notable for its targeting of the letter bomber Miles Cooper and the animal rights campaign Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. However, it has run into controversy over the definition of domestic extremism, its monitoring of peaceful protestors and recording of details on its database, its links with industry and the activities of undercover officers it used to target various protest movements, most notably Mark Kennedy.

This page gives a general overview of the units dealing with domestic extremism.
For more detail, see the following sub-pages:

• National Domestic Extremism Unit: organisational history
• National Domestic Extremism Unit: activities
• National Domestic Extremism Unit: officers
• Domestic Extremism (definition and history)
• National Domestic Extremism Database

Creation of the unit

• For a detailed account of the history and organisation of the units see National Domestic Extremism Unit: organisational history

Much of the impetus for the domestic extremism units came from the resurgence of militant animal right campaigning in the late 1990s and 2000s, particularly targeting the animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire and a new biotech laboratory in Oxford. Up to this point, activists were generally referred to as 'Animal Rights Extremists' by the police and press and in Parliamentary debates, with militant environmental campaigning being referred to as 'eco-terrorism' rather than extremism.

A number of police units had been set up previously including

• National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) - established in 1999 to target animal rights and environmental protestors.
• A specialist unit within the National Crime Squad.

In 2004, following high profile activity by the animal rights movement the UK government reacted by establishing the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE) under the aegis of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee (ACPO TAM). In the same year, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU) was created by Cambridgeshire Police, in conjunction with the National Crime Squad and funded by the Home Office.

From 2004 and 2006, there was a growth and consolidation of the role of National Coordinator of Domestic Extremism. The National Domestic Extremism Team was created to give the NCDE operational ability, while NETCU and NPOIU were gradually integrated into it. NETCU would be a source of practical knowledge and policing advice, including working with the private sector, while NPOIU would provide the intelligence. The third part would be the National Domestic Extremism Team, which was made up of officers seconded from other forces and carry out criminal investigations into animal rights and other protestors. This reorganisation was taking place when the 2005 July 7th bombings in London occurred, prompting a reorganising of counter-terrorism policing in the UK, particularly of those branches of the police which would have had oversight of the domestic extremism.

With the merging in of the NPOIU, the remit was able to extend beyond domestic extremism to public order which helped facilitate the extension of its original mission from focusing on animal rights to protest as a whole, based on the relationship between protest groups being active through marches and other demonstrations.

By the end of 2006, the roles of NPOIU, NETCU and NDET under the NCDE was intelligence, prevention and enforcement respectively, while ‘their core role is provide support and advice to police forces that remain responsible for intelligence, prevention and enforcement functions within their respective local force areas.’

While the NDCE and its units were funded primarily by the Home Office, it was independent of that department, and also worked with other departments such as the Department for Business, Innovation and Trade. However, understanding of the picture of funding is hampered by refusal by ACPO and the Home Office to answer questions on the funding.. The unit's office address was given as 10 Victoria Street, London, SW1H ONN, which is the ACPO headquarters and which building is home to a number of other police organisations and Home Office units.

Role of the National Coordinator Domestic Extremism

The head of the NCDE, the National Coordinator Domestic Extremism (NCDE -sometimes also given as NDEC) answered directly to ACPO's Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee. According to an interview on 25 July 2009, he had no ‘executive authority or control’ over police forces, and his only oversight was by way of reporting to the TAM committee. The main purpose of his role was ‘to coordinate the police response to single-issue, domestic extremism’. In 2012 it was described as providing ‘strategic support and direction to police forces dealing with domestic extremism investigations’.

In December 2014, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the role of NCDE was still existent and the title given to the head of the NDEDIU.

Member Units (2004-2011)

NETCU

NETCU was established in March 2004 by the Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire in response the animal rights campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences with Home Office funding and based out of Huntingdon. Initially it was part of the National Crime Squad. Its responsibility was to act as an interface between police and those companies / institutions who were the subject of campaigns and protests, as well as supporting local police forces by producing guidance. It later extended its interest to other protests, particularly environmental. A similar unit, WETCU, was also established in Wales.

Much of the work of NCDE and NDEU was often attributed to NETCU by protestors; as the more public face of the various units, it attracted most attention, including monitoring by blogs such as NETCU-Watch.

• See also NETCU

NPOIU

The NPOIU was formed in 1999 as part of a national strategy within ACPO around public order issues, and funded by the Home Office, in particular:

it was established to support police forces in managing the intelligence around the threat to communities from public disorder connected to domestic extremism and single issue campaigning.

Its basis was the Animal Rights National Index, and rooted within Special Branch, through which it drew upon officers from the Special Demonstration Squad. Pre-existing intelligence gathering units - the Northern Intelligence Unit and the Southern Intelligence Unit that had monitored travellers and protestors during the 1990s - were incorporated into it as satellite organisations. Later its work was described as:

to reduce criminality and disorder from domestic extremism and to support forces in the way they dealt with strategic public order issues, including by gathering intelligence through the deployment of undercover officers.

It was charged with maintaining a database on protestors and activists, but early on it created a sub-unit, the Confidential Intelligence Unit (CIU) which ran infiltrators. It is known that undercover officer Mark Kennedy was deployed by CIU in 2003, but he is believed to have replaced an earlier officer, Rod Richardson who was active from 1999 to 2003.

• See also NPOIU

NDET

NDET was a unit of detectives set up in 2005 by ACPO to provide assistance - practical and intelligence - to police forces facing protests from 'domestic extremists', and to look at all crimes 'linked to single-issue type causes and campaigns'. In particular, it was 'responsible for co-ordinating police operations and investigations against domestic campaigns and extremists, as well as identifying possible linked crimes across the country. The unit came to public attention when it led the investigation into the letter bomber Miles Cooper and was asked to assist the investigation into the hacking of the Climate Research Unit at University of East Anglia. It also oversaw Operation Achillies under DCI Andy Robbins which investigated Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.

The Unit was led by an officer of the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. From January 2009 to January 2013, this was Andy Robbins, on secondment from Kent police.

2011: Reorganisation and downsizing

In 2009 and 2010 a number of reports highlighted issues of weak governance and oversight within the units. At the time the NDEU had a staff of about 100 and a budget of 8.1million. It was decided to move it from ACPO's control and to merge the role of National Co-ordinator for Domestic Extremism and the three units under him into one unit- the National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU). This was finalised in January 2011, at a meeting of ACPO's top decision body, the Chief Constables Council. DCS Adrian Tudway was appointed as the new NCDE, replacing Setchell who had been told to resign that month.

For the most part, the activities of the combined unit were to remain the same, including the handling 'intelligence related threats across force, national and international boundaries’ - inherited from the NPOIU

The merger of January 2011 involved a downsizing of the units, the loss of senior officers and budget cuts put in place. The unit itself was given lesser status with Setchell's two successors as NCDE, Tudway and Greany, not given the rank with the ‘seniority of a chief officer’, but holding the lesser with rank of Detective Chief Superintendent. The newly combined National Domestic Extremism Unit formally transferred to the control of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command on 1 June 2011., the end of a transition process that started in August the year before, when Netcu registred the domain name for the forthcoming NDEU website. .

At the same time downsizing and merging was taking place, the scandal around Mark Kennedy, an NPOIU undercover officer, was breaking. This led the Minister for Police, Nick Herbert to declare of the units that ‘operationally something has gone very wrong’, and that he subsequently stripped the NDEU of its operational powers, in particular its ability to infiltrate protest movements with undercover officers.

As was explained here, the stripping was part of a process that had started months before.

Transfer of control to the Metropolitan Police

Following the transfer, the NDEU initially retained the intelligence collection, investigation support and awareness raising functions of its precursor units: One of its subunits was the Strategic Threat Assessment, which was one of two police organisations identifying threats to public order. Listed as events which provided practical learning experiences for the policing of large scale disorder were the G20 protests, English Defence League demonstrations and the August 2011 riots, in all of which NDEU has played a role.

Oversight of the NDEU was placed under Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism. The Head of NDEU, then reported through the head of the MPS’s Counter Terrorism Command to the Chair of the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Business Area; while the unit continued to be funded by ACPO and the Home Office. The ACPO Terrorism and Allied Committee continued to provide ‘the development of police service policy and strategy in respect of relevant counter terrorism, domestic extremism and other policing themes.’

Though now housed with the Metropolitan Police, it retained its national function, and had officers seconded from other forces.

Renamed to NDEDIU

In 1 May 2013 the NDEU was formally renamed the National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU). It retained control of its database / intelligence gathering function (see below) and continued to lead investigations, most notably that leading to the imprisonment of SHAC activist Debbie Vincent in 2014.

Subsequently, the NDEDIU was organized into two units (following acceptance of the NDEU Business Development Plan for the Establishment of a National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit put forward in October 2012 and agreed by ACPO’s Chief Constables Council in May 2013):

• a) Protest and Disorder Intelligence Unit. This unit collates and provides strategic analysis relating to protest and disorder across the UK; and
• b) Domestic Extremism Intelligence Unit. This unit provides strategic analysis of domestic extremism intelligence within the UK and overseas.

The unit now has a single page at website of the National Police Chiefs' Council, which replaced the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). It describes its work as:

The NDEU [sic - this is the old name] supports all police forces to help reduce the criminal threat from domestic extremism across the UK. It works to promote a single and co-ordinated police response by providing tactical advice to the police service alongside information and guidance to industry and government.

One of the key responsibilities of the NDEDIU is to provide intelligence on domestic extremism and strategic public order issues in the UK. Police will always engage to facilitate peaceful protest, prevent disorder and minimise disruption to local communities. Where individuals cross over into criminality and violence, the police will act swiftly and decisively to uphold the law.

Definition of Domestic Extremism

• For more detail on the definition, see: Domestic Extremism

There is no legal definition of domestic extremism. The term emerged in the early 2000s as a way of characterising militant animal rights campaigns. From there it expanded to cover those 'that carry out criminal direct action in furtherance of a campaign. These people and activities usually seek to prevent something from happening or to change legislation or domestic policy, but attempt to do so outside of the normal democratic process."

In 2011, the ACPO website for the NCDE stated the following:

Who is considered a domestic extremist?
Single issue protest campaigns are regularly facilitated by police and local authorities who each have a duty to uphold the rights of individuals and groups to protest in public.
However, in recent years, a small number of groups and individuals have pursued a determined course of criminal activity designed to disrupt the public peace and lawful business, and at worst, repeatedly victimise selected individuals.
This activity has ranged from blackmail and serious intimidation in the name of animal rights; bombing campaigns by violent and racist individuals associated with far right wing groups; violent disorder from left wing or anarchist individuals, to large scale criminal damage against scientific GM crops studies and mass aggravated trespass or unlawful obstruction of lawful businesses associated with the national infrastructure of our country, such as power stations and airports by those who’s stated aim is to stop any business perceived to harm the environment.

In 2014 a revised working definition was provided by the Metropolitan Police as:

Domestic Extremism relates to the activity of groups or individuals who commit or plan serious criminal activity motivated by a political or ideological viewpoint.

Targeting of lawful protest

The broad definition of domestic extremism caused controversy when it was realized it was being used by the police to monitor all protest groups regardless of their intentions towards what might be deemed criminal behaviour. It was also noted that the phrase carried no legal definition and had a very wide interpretation. This led to a campaign by various groups around the criminalization of protest and in relation to the retaining of data on the NPOIU / NDEU database.

The 2011 ACPO / NCDE website repeated maintained that it did not target lawful protestors:

The National Domestic Extremism Unit does not usually focus those who choose to protest peacefully and lawfully. The unit is mainly concerned with those who commit criminal offences in furtherance of their campaign.

However, during a 2014 trial it was revealed that two long standing NDEU officers, Ian Caswell (retired) and Christopher Cowley, had carried out frequent surveillance of peaceful demonstrations, including photographing individuals, logging when the entered or left private events / gatherings and recording number plates. This backed up long standing complaints by protest groups and others that the criminalisation of otherwise lawful protest was effectively taking place.

Work of the domestic extremism units

• See main page: National Domestic Extremism Unit: activities

A 2009 the work carried out by the domestic extremism units was for stated as 'reducing or removing the threat, criminality and public disorder that arises from domestic extremism in England and Wales specifically, and the UK generally'; it went on to categorise domestic extremism as:

• Animal Rights Extremism
• Environment Extremism
• Extreme Right Wing
• Extreme Left Wing
• Emerging Threats

Though animal rights provided the motivation for creating the domestic extremism units, from early on its work encompassed other movements such as anti-capitalism, eco-defence and peace movements, while the careers of "Lynn Watson" and Mark Kennedy show a clear interest in environmental campaigns such as Climate Camp, and also anti-fascism.

In 2013, Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations, Cressida Dick said the 'National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU) sets the national strategic direction for understanding extremist threats to the UK. It has a wide range of international partners which it works with, particularly law enforcement and security agencies in Europe.'

NDEU / NPOIU database and intelligence gathering

• For more detail see: National Domestic Extremism Database

One of the functions of the NPOIU was the maintaining a database of individuals related to protest, something it had inherited from the Animal Rights National Index. Over time this database, known as the National Domestic Extremism Database grew to include images and details of up to 9000 protestors. Officers from the domestic extremism units were regularly seen at protests and other political gatherings noting details and taking photographs, As well as its own officers, it gathers intelligence from other forces and specialist units, and uses specialist software to scan social media.

It became a subject of controversy when campaigners claimed that it was helping to criminalize protest. Further controversy was added when it became known that ‘spotter cards’ based on it were being issued to local police at major events, and later when it emerged that much of the detail on it related to lawful activity. Following two court cases which found police retention of protestor surveillance breached human rights, and two inspections by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, it was ordered to be cleaned up and better processes put in place. However, it remains in place being one of the key functions of the domestic extremism units that has survived the reorganization and transfer to the Metropolitan Police, and the fallout from the Mark Kennedy scandal.

It has been the subject of a number of legal challenges over the validity and retention of data on it (see National Domestic Extremism Database for further detail).

Targeting Animal Rights

A central aspect of the NCDE / NDEU work was the targeting of animal rights campaigns, in particular Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and SPEAK. In this it worked in collaboration with five other forces as part of an extensive set of operations.

In 2007 it saw the arrest of 32 people and the subsequent conviction in 2008 and 2009 of a number of leading SHAC activists. At its height, it was the largest police operation of its time in the UK, involving 700 police officers, including from Holland and Belgium, and involved the bugging of homes and cars.

As part of these operations, it is known the NCDE / NDEU collaborated with other parts of the justice system, including working with the Crown Prosecution Service. NETCU also played a leading role in assisting civil injunctions to be taken out.

Monitoring the Far Right

On 27 April 2011, the then National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, DCS Adrian Tudway caused anger in the Muslim community when he wrote that he considered the anti-Islamist English Defence League as ‘not extreme right-wing as a group’ and that a ‘line of dialogue’ should be opened with them.

However, from May 2011 the NDEU worked with local police forces to obtain anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) against EDL members

Home Office minister James Brokenshire said in 2013 that the NDEU was involved in collating and analyzing intelligence on the Far Right. This included analysing footage of EDL protests to see if Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik had taken part in their demonstrations.

August 2011: the London riots

During the August 2011 riots, the NDEU provided ‘support and daily tension briefings’ for the President of ACPO who was attending COBR meetings with the Government. This followed the Police National Information and Coordination Centre being overwhelmed by the demands being placed on it due to the scale of the disorder.

Destruction of files

In February 2017 the Independent Police Complaints Commission launched an investigation into the NDEDIU destruction of material ahead of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (the 'Pitchford Inquiry'). It was alleged that the NDEDIU had shredded a large number documents shredded in May 2014, after the Public Inquiry had been announced, and counter to an express instructions from the MPS itself. A separate complaint was made by Baroness Jenny Jones that she had been informed by a whistleblower that records relating to her where destroyed in June 2014.

Relationship with private security

A number of officers involved in the domestic extremism units have gone on to work in the private security and intelligence world. The 2012 HMIC report into the units stated:

A close relationship was built up over a number of years between the NDEU and those industries which found themselves the target of protests, to raise awareness of threats and risk so that damage and injury could be prevented. A number of police officers have retired from NDEU's precursor units and continued their careers in the security industry, using their skills and experience for commercial purposes.

In particular, NETCU is known for close links with with the vivisection and pharmaceutical industries, and it has been revealed that it met with blacklisting firm The Consultancy Association in November 2008.

The most recent description of the work of the unit now called the NDEDIU at its website (as quoted above) includes giving 'information and guidance to industry and government'.

Other Undercover Research sources

• See National Domestic Extremism Unit: officers for details of holders of the office National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism and other senior police officers involved in the leadership of the domestic extremism units.

• National Public Order Intelligence Unit
• National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit
• Association of Chief Police Officers (Terrorism and Allied Matters)
• Special Demonstration Squad
• Mark Kennedy

External Resources

• Britain's Secretive Police Force – Politicising the Policing of Public Expression in an Era of Economic Change (Paper Q2), electrohippies, April 2009.

Notes