Adrian Leppard
National Domestic Extremism Team (NDET)
Established by the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, Assistant Chief Constable Anton Setchell, the National Domestic Extremism Team (NDET), was the investigation wing of the National Domestic Extremism Unit. Based in London, it was overseen by the Association of Chief Police Officers' Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee. Its work was described at the time as:[1]
- responsible for co-ordinating police operations and investigations against domestic campaigns and extremists, as well as identifying possible linked crimes across the country.
A key focus of NDET was animal rights campaigns (which had motivated the creation of the national domestic extremism units in 2004). Particular targets were Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) and SPEAK Campaigns. Named Forton, a significant intelligence gathering operation was launched, involving involved five forces: Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Kent and Thames Valley.[2]
A number of undercover police officers were deployed by the NDET's sister unit, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, targeting animal rights groups, including SHAC. These undercovers included 'RC' (active 2002 to 2006). It appears that the police also employed private intelligence specialists such as Adrian Radford (active as 'Ian Farmer 2004 to 2007).[3]
The arrest and formal investigation phase began with the coordinated arrests of 32 animal rights activists associated with SHAC on 1 May 2007.[4] This phase was named Operation Achillies at this point, and at that point was overseen by ACC Adrian Leppard, the then head of Specialist Operations at Kent Police. It was the largest police operation of its time,[5] costing £3.5 million and incorporating 12 separate police forces as well as the FBI. It was lead by detectives experienced in organised crime investigations (which included Robbins[6]), who used covert surveillance to build their case.[7] Ultimately, a number of activists were convicted, with twelve being imprisoned in a number of trials that took place between 2008 and 2012.
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ National Co-ordinator Domestic Extremism, Frequently Asked Questions, Association of Chief Police Officers, ca. 2010-2011, archived by Undercover Research Group.
- ↑ Gordon Mills, The successes and failures of policing animal rights extremism in the UK 2004–2010, International Journal of Police Science & Management, Vol. 15, No.1, 18 February 2013.
- ↑ Jack Grimston, ALF infiltrator speaks on UK arrests, campaign, Sunday Times (paywall), 1 March 2009.
- ↑ Police quiz animal activists, The Express, 1 May 2007, accessed 31 August 2014.
- ↑ Police quiz animal activists, The Express, 1 May 2007, accessed 31 August 2014.
- ↑ Haroon Siddique, Animal rights activists guilty of blackmailing research lab suppliers, The Guardian, 23 December 2008 (accessed 5 November 2016).
- ↑ Sandra Laville, National: Anti-vivisection campaign: ALF plotters stuck to rigid code of secrecy. But police were listening: An unprecedented undercover operation by 12 forces with FBI help brought down network of animal rights extremists, The Guardian, 24 December 2008 (accessed via Nexis).