Decisions relating to anonymity applications: Special Demonstration Squad

7 Mar 2018

The Chairman is today issuing a ‘minded to’ note (PDF, 349KB) in respect of 18 former Demonstration Squad officers.

For five officers, HN21 , HN25, HN66, HN96 and HN122 the Chairman is minded to grant their application for a restriction order over their real name, but refuse their application to restrict cover name. The applicants must notify the Inquiry if they wish to address the Chairman in a closed hearing by 4 pm on Friday 23 March 2018
For two officers, HN83 and HN302, the Chairman is minded to grant a restriction over the real and cover names.
For four officers, HN35, HN82, HN106 and HN300, the Chairman is minded to grant their applications to restrict their real name. HN35 was a manager who did not have a cover name; HN82’s widow will be invited to make representations in respect of his cover name before the Chairman makes final a decision; HN106’s cover name will be published once the Inquiry’s pre-publication checks are complete and HN300’s cover name is unknown beyond ‘Jim’ or ‘Jimmy’.
For three officers, HN155, HN344 and HN608, the Chairman is minded to refuse to restrict their real names but will require oral submissions on the press issue set out in paragraph 16 of today’s minded to note regarding H N 155. The applicants must notify the Inquiry if they wish to address the Chairman in a closed hearing by 4pm on Friday 23 March 2018
HN103 is not applying for restriction orders so the real name will be published where it appears in the evidence in due course.
The Chairman is not yet in a position to make a decision on three further officers, HN20, HN48 and HN95.

Today’s ‘Minded to’ note is accompanied by directions (PDF, 26KB) and an explanatory note (PDF, 3.8MB), updated by the Inquiry’s counsel, detailing the current status of all 113 officers to have been included in the anonymity process as at the end of January 2018.

The Inquiry will now begin the separation process to be able to publish the open applications and evidence, where applicable, in relation to this ‘Minded to’ note.

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