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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/29/spy-cops-operations-against-leftwing-groups-unjustified-judge-finds
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| ‘Spy cops’ operations against leftwing groups unjustified, inquiry finds | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Report says officers collected details of activists’ sexuality and bank accounts and operations should have been shut down | |
| What is the ‘spy cops’ scandal and why was inquiry set up? | |
| Undercover operations to infiltrate leftwing groups in the 1970s and early 1980s were not justified and should have been closed down, a retired judge leading a public inquiry has concluded. | Undercover operations to infiltrate leftwing groups in the 1970s and early 1980s were not justified and should have been closed down, a retired judge leading a public inquiry has concluded. |
| In a critical report published on Thursday, Sir John Mitting found that undercover police officers collected a “striking and extensive” amount of information about the personal lives of political activists, such as their holiday plans, sexuality and bank accounts. | In a critical report published on Thursday, Sir John Mitting found that undercover police officers collected a “striking and extensive” amount of information about the personal lives of political activists, such as their holiday plans, sexuality and bank accounts. |
| He also concluded that it was “remarkable” that the vast majority of activists who were spied on posed no threat to public order. | He also concluded that it was “remarkable” that the vast majority of activists who were spied on posed no threat to public order. |
| The report contained the first conclusions to emerge from the long-running inquiry, which is examining the operations of the police spies over more than four decades. It covers the first 14 years of the secret operations, between 1968 and 1982. | |
| The much-delayed inquiry was set up in 2014 after a stream of revelations about the misconduct of the undercover officers. These included spying on the family of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and deceiving women into long-term sexual relationships. | |
| Between 1968 and at least 2010, 139 undercover officers were sent on deployments – usually lasting four years – and spied on more than 1,000 mainly leftwing and progressive groups. | Between 1968 and at least 2010, 139 undercover officers were sent on deployments – usually lasting four years – and spied on more than 1,000 mainly leftwing and progressive groups. |
| The officers adopted fake personas and pretended to be activists while infiltrating political movements, such as campaigns against racism, apartheid and the Vietnam war. | |
| In his report, Mitting concluded that the Scotland Yard undercover unit, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), operated with the approval of the highest levels of government, and funding from the Home Office. Its reports were routinely passed to MI5, the security service. | |
| Mitting said he had “come to the firm conclusion” that the intrusive methods of the undercover officers were not justified, adding that if their operations had “been publicly known at the time, the SDS would have been brought to a rapid end”. | Mitting said he had “come to the firm conclusion” that the intrusive methods of the undercover officers were not justified, adding that if their operations had “been publicly known at the time, the SDS would have been brought to a rapid end”. |
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| Mitting said there were four questions about the methods used by the undercover officers that senior officers at Scotland Yard and the Home Office ignored. | |
| “If these issues had been addressed, it is hard to see how any conclusion could legitimately have been reached which would not have resulted in the closure of the SDS.” | “If these issues had been addressed, it is hard to see how any conclusion could legitimately have been reached which would not have resulted in the closure of the SDS.” |
| These included the controversial technique of stealing the identities of dead children to bolster the alter-egos of the undercover officers and the practice of the undercover officers taking up senior posts in the groups they were infiltrating. | |
| He said that the unit’s infiltration of only three groups – (Provisional) Sinn Féin and two unidentified organisations – were justified on the grounds that they posed a threat to the safety of the state. “The great majority of deployments by the SDS in this period” were not justified, he said. |