National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Unit
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This article is a stub. For a full account and references please visit the main page at National Domestic Extremism Unit. See also National Domestic Extremism Unit (organisational history) and National Domestic Extremism Unit (activities).
The National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Unit (NDEDIU) is the latest name for the national police unit which carries out intelligence gathering and set out strategy on domestic extremism. The name was changed from National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU) on 1 May 2013. The NDEU had been created in 2011 following a merger of the three domestic extremism units under the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism – the National Domestic Extremism Team, National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU).[1]
The NPOIU had been responsible for running undercover police officers such as Mark Kennedy, Lynn Watson and Marco Jacobs, but had been stripped of its operational powers at the time of the merger following the scandal around Kennedy's exposure. It was also responsible for the National Domestic Extremism Database which gathered details on protestors as part of a the wider National Special Branch Information System, a function passed to the NDEDIU where it remains.
The head of the NDEDIU retains the old title of National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, at the rank of Detective Chief Superintendent. From March 2012 it was headed by Chris Greany, but the position has remained vacant since his departure in September 2014 to the City of London Police force upon his promotion to Commander appointment as National Coordinator for Economic Crime.
In May 2013, the NDEDIU was split into two units:
- 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.
In 2013, Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations, Cressida Dick, who division included Counter Terrorism Command, thus overseeing the NDEDIU by that stage, wrote to the Home Affairs Committee to say:
- ...we remain cognisant of the threat from individuals who engage in terrorist activity in the name of Extreme Right or Left wing views or other ideologies. 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. Furthermore it enables us to understand and respond more effectively to the nexus of terrorism and hate crime. For this reason Domestic Extremism policing remains an integral part of CT and wider law enforcement activity.
- ↑ ‘Commander - Economic Crime’, City of London Police website, xxx (accessed 25 December 2015).
