Covert policing in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

are the practices of the

British police Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police officers serving in regional po ...

that are hidden to the public, usually employed in order that an officer can gather intelligence and approach an offender without prompting escape.

Covert policing role

Most

forces have formed a unit solely for covert policing operations. One of the forces that makes extensive use of surveillance-led policing is

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. The Metropolitan Police unit was formerly a Specialist Operations designation devoted to covert policing, which was

SO10 SO10 was the former designation of the Metropolitan Police's Covert Operations Group. History The group's origins can be traced back to 1960, with the formation of what was known as the Criminal Investigation Branch, which later evolved and was m ...

. Since then, most of the Specialist Operations units have been disbanded or merged, giving way to SO10 being merged into the

Specialist Crime Directorate The Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) was one of the main branches of London's Metropolitan Police Service. It provided highly visible specialist policing services across the whole of London. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley had previously le ...

to be designated SCD10. Now designated as SC&O 10, it falls under the purview of

Specialist Crime & Operations Met Operations, also known as Met Ops, is one of the four business groups which forms the Metropolitan Police Service and is responsible for providing operational support services.. It was created during the 2018-19 restructuring of the service, a ...

. The concept of covert policing evolved from that of

community policing Community policing, or community-oriented policing (COP), is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols ...

, but as criminality advanced, covert policing was seen to be needed to combat this.

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

s usually do not wear a uniform, which stemmed from the foundation of the CID. Because detectives are often concerned with the evidence gathering stage of an investigation, they are assumed by many to be the officers required to survey suspects as they go around their daily routines. However, this is not the case. Specialist Surveillance Teams exist which deploy a number of covert tactics in order to gather intelligence and evidence of subjects.

History

Much of Britain's police service throughout the early to mid 20th century consisted of police officers walking a beat, one in each neighbourhood. This gave rise to the term "bobbies on the beat" and "golden age policing", as the officers walked constantly instead of patrolling the streets from

police cars A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

. Possibly the most accurate television portrayal of the archetypal British policing was the BBC programme ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'' (1955 to 1976). The Criminal Intelligence Branch (which Covert Policing was a branch of before SO designations were devised) was formed in March 1960 and provided surveillance on known criminals, keeping pace with criminal methodology and technology.

2009 G-20 protests

A Select Committee report on the 2009 G-20 London summit protests revealed that 25 undercover officers were deployed and were mixing with demonstrators. The overall charge, Bob Broadhurst, claimed that the deployment of undercover officers was unknown to him at the time, and that the plainclothes officers were "evidence gatherers".

Disclosure of relationships and children by undercover officers

Around the end of 2010 and during 2011, it was disclosed in UK media, that a number of undercover police officers had, as part of their 'false persona', entered into intimate relationships with members of targeted groups and in some cases proposed marriage or fathered children with protesters who were unaware their partner was a police officer in a role as part of their official duties. Various legal actions followed, including eight women who took action against the Metropolitan Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), stating they were deceived into long-term intimate relationships by five officers, including Mark Kennedy, the first officer identified in 2010 as infiltrating social and environmental justice campaigns, and Mark Kennedy himself who claimed in turn that he had been incompetently handled by his superiors and denied

psychological counselling Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome prob ...

. According to ''The Guardian'', Kennedy sued the police for ruining his life and failing to "protect" him from falling in love with one of the environmental activists whose movement he infiltrated. It later emerged that Kennedy had previously undertaken criminal acts as part of his role for other countries, including

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

where he stated that, in the guise of an environmental activist, he was used by the police forces of 22 countries and was responsible for the closing down of the Youth House community centre in Copenhagen, and in Germany, for German police, including

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

. The use of undercover officers also caused the collapse of trials and led to the revelation of unlawful withholding of evidence by the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

. Six activists accused of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station has a capacity of 2,000&nb ...

collapsed following the revelation of undercover police involvement, in which the police were described as having been not just observers, but

agent provocateur An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...

s, and the

(CPS) was forced to withdraw the case against the activists after Kennedy confessed to the set-up, evidence of which the CPS had withheld from the defence, along with secret tapes "that could have exonerated six activists, known as the "deniers" because they claimed not to have agreed to join the protest". CPS lawyer Ian Cunningham faced dismissal after a report by

Sir Christopher Rose Sir Christopher Dudley Roger Rose (born 10 February 1937) is a former judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. Education Christopher Rose was educated at Morecambe Grammar Sch ...

criticised him for his lack of candour. In November 2015 the Metropolitan Police force apologized unreservedly to seven women "tricked into relationships" over a period of 25 years by officers in the

Special Demonstration Squad The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was an undercover unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS or the Met), set up in 1968 with the approval of the Wilson government, to infiltrate British protest groups. It was part of the Sp ...

(SDS) and the

National Public Order Intelligence Unit The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) was run by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a private company connected to United Kingdom police intelligence, and was set up in 1999 to track green activists and public demonst ...

(NPOIU). The officers involved had eventually "vanished", leaving questions and deceit behind, described by victims as "

psychological torture Psychological torture or mental torture is a type of torture that relies primarily on psychological effects, and only secondarily on any physical harm inflicted. Although not all psychological torture involves the use of physical violence, there ...

". Financial settlements estimated at £3 million for the seven claimants were also made as part of the settlement. Crown Prosecutors declined to bring charges against any police officers or their supervisors, including charges for

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and other sexual crimes (covering sex under false pretences, unconsented sexual acts, and other potential offences). The CPS statement stated that misrepresenting identity, and obtaining sexual consent due to a false identity, did not generally create an offence of

rape in English law Rape is a statutory offence in England and Wales. The offence is created by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003: This definition notably has a narrower definition with other kinds of rape being covered by offences with other name ...

, other than in specific statutory-defined situations, and therefore rape charges would be unlikely to succeed. For similar reasons,

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broad ...

, procurement for sexual intercourse by false pretences, and misconduct in office were also felt to lack sufficient basis for a conviction. The disclosures also led to the closing of the units concerned, and a public inquiry titled the "

Undercover Policing Inquiry The Undercover Policing Inquiry or Pitchford Inquiry is an independent public inquiry into Covert policing in the United Kingdom, undercover policing in England and Wales. It was announced by Theresa May, the United Kingdom Home Secretary on 12 M ...

", concerning the conduct of police in undercover operations. The inquiry is led by senior judge Lord Justice Pitchford, a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

and member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

Media

Several now-exposed undercover police are profiled in the book ''Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police'' (2013). The play ''Any Means Necessary'' is based on the infiltration of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station protest. It was the staged at Nottingham Playhouse in February 2016. A planned television drama series is based on the story of the undercover officers. The police detective drama series Hinterland - Y Gwyll was broadcast from 2013 to 2016. Set in Wales, it was shot in English and Welsh. The series is a Fiction Factory co-production with S4C, Tinopolis and All3Media International for S4C, BBC Wales, BBC 4 and Netflix.

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web, title=G20 police chief accused of misleading MPs about undercover mission, url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/24/g20-undercover-police-broadhurst, work=The Guardian, date=24 November 2009, accessdate=27 March 2016 {{cite web, title=Undercover police spy scandal to be brought to stage for Nottingham Playhouse 2016 programme, url=http://www.nottinghampost.com/Undercover-police-spy-scandal-brought-stage/story-28460863-detail/story.html, publisher=Nottingham Post, accessdate=31 January 2016{{Dead link, date=July 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes {{cite news , title = The Age of Stupid team joins forces with Simon Beaufoy and Tony Garnett for true-life undercover cops TV drama , date = 7 March 2014 , url = http://spannerfilms.net/undercovers , work=

Spanner Films Spanner Films is a small London-based documentary company founded by film director Franny Armstrong in 1997. Productions The company's earliest production was '' McLibel'' (1997/2005), a documentary film about David Morris and Helen Steel, a pos ...

, location=London, accessdate = 13 March 2014 {{cite web, title=A heartwarming Christmas tale, url=http://spannerfilms.net/news/A_heartwarming_Christmas_tale, publisher=Spanner Films, accessdate=31 January 2016

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090523233101/http://www.met.police.uk/scd/specialist_units/covert_policing.htm
Undercover Policing Inquiry - official website
Law enforcement theory Law enforcement in the United Kingdom Surveillance Law enforcement techniques Types of policing