investigating corporate and police spying on activists
In October 2010,
Mark Kennedy was exposed as a police spy who had infiltrated environmental and anti-capitalist groups for the previous seven years. His was the beginning of a series of public exposures; most resulting from investigations by the people involved, supported by the work of Rob Evans and Paul Lewis at the
Guardian.
This
Undercover Research Portal provides easy public access to the stories about the various undercover officers who have been exposed and the groups they spied upon. We also look at the police officers and units involved and how they interconnect with some of the big stories around policing in the past few decades.
The portal is set up and edited by the Undercover Research Group, we also write the
Undercover Research blog dedicated to investigating the wider context of political policing.
We can be reached
by email - PGP key available on request. Both Powerbase and the Undercover Research Group have a policy of
strict referencing. This portal is overseen by
Eveline Lubbers and
Peter Salmon. Please read the
General Disclaimer.
Background
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The undercover operations exposed involve two Special Branch units that focused on protest groups and what would in the 2000s be given the name Domestic Extremism. These were the Special Demonstration Squad, operating since 1968, and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. The lack of supervision and oversight of their undercover police operations has led to more than a dozen official inquiries, most of which are internal and confidential. Convictions of campaigners have been overturned, and declared unsafe because it had not been disclosed that undercover police officers were at the heart of activities, and it is highly likely that further convictions will be challenged. A number of court cases have been initiated by women tricked into intimate relationships with undercover agents (and in a few cases having children by them. Hearings in Parliament have questioned the more extreme methods employed, such as the use of death certificates of children to provide a false identity for the spies involved; while using Parliamentary Privilege, Green MP Caroline Lucas has accused one spy of being an agent provocateur, committing arson while an activist with the Animal Liberation Front.
Elsewhere another officer, Peter Francis, came forward with details of how the undercover police were used to smear the Stephen Lawrence family. It has become apparent that a culture of abuse grew up around the units involved in covert policing and how that intelligence was used. So much so, that a public inquiry was announced in 2014.
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Where to Start?
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Follow the links below to learn about the secretive world of undercover policing, the shadowy units and the personalities involved, as well as context for the stories seen in the news.
Undercover Operations in Policing Protest and Dissent
Corporate Spying
Issues/Case Studies/Background/Analysis
Holding Authorities to Account
Targets and Background
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References
