Documents relating to anonymity applications: Special Demonstration Squad (following November minded to note)

4 Jan 2018

On 14 November 2017 the Inquiry published a ‘minded to’ note in respect of 24 former Special Demonstration Squad officers (PDF, 269KB) 12 of whom were from the August 2017 tranche of applications. In his statement on 20 November the Chairman committed to publishing documents relating to the August 2017 tranche of anonymity applications where it was possible to do so.

Documents in respect of anonymity applications

The Inquiry is today publishing a total of 18 documents (PDF, 38KB) comprising applications, risk assessments and impact statements in respect of the following:

HN 23 – a restriction order is sought for the real and cover name, the Chairman is not minded to publish the real or the cover name
HN 40 – a restriction order is sought for real and cover name, the Chairman is not minded to publish the real or the cover name
HN 241 – a restriction order is sought for real and cover name, the Chairman is not minded to publish the real or cover name
HN 322 – a restriction order is sought for the real name (there is no known cover name), the Chairman is not minded to publish the real name
HN 348 – a restriction order is sought for the real name (part of the cover name is known), the Chairman is not minded to publish the real name

It is not possible to publish documents in respect of the following officers until the Inquiry has identified and contacted all of those who need to be given advance notice of publication. Such people include the surviving relatives of any child whose identity was used and anyone believed to have had an intimate relationship with the officer. The documents in these cases will be published at the point where cover names are published:

HN1 – restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published
HN45- restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published.
HN298 – restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published
HN334 – restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published
HN336 – restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published
HN347 – restriction sought over the real name, which the Chairman is minded to grant. The cover name will be published

The Inquiry is not publishing documents in relation to HN216 as this manager has withdrawn his restriction order application. He will give evidence in his real name.

Directions

The Inquiry is also publishing Directions (PDF, 215KB) in relation to two officers asking the Metropolitan Police Service Designated Lawyers to confirm by 9 January 2018 whether they will be seeking a closed hearing to make submissions. These directions concern the applications to restrict HN88’s cover name and HN127’s real name both of which the Chairman is currently minded to refuse.

Written submissions on the decisions the Chairman is minded to make (as detailed above) are invited from core participants and the media by 4pm 18 January 2018.

Background

The purpose of the Undercover Policing Inquiry is to investigate and report on undercover police operations conducted by English and Welsh police forces in England and Wales since 1968. The Inquiry will examine the contribution undercover policing has made to tackling crime, how it was and is supervised and regulated, and its effect on individuals involved – both police officers and others who came into contact with them.

The work of the Inquiry ranges across the full scope of undercover policing work and will look at the work of the Special Demonstration Squad, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit and police forces in England and Wales. The Inquiry will also examine whether people may have been wrongly convicted in cases involving undercover police officers, and refer any such cases to a separate panel for consideration. The work of the Inquiry will fall into three modules:

Module one will look at what happened in the deployment of undercover officers in the past, their conduct, and the impact of their activities on themselves and others.
Module two will look at the management and oversight of undercover officers, including their selection, training, supervision and care after the end of an undercover deployment. This section will also look at the law and other rules covering undercover policing.
Module three will make recommendations about how undercover policing should be conducted in future

NOTES TO EDITORS