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UK: HOW LOW CAN THE POLICE STOOP?

25 July 2014

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The undercover policing scandal continues to widen:

Police chiefs were aware six years ago that undercover unit 'had lost moral compass' (Guardian, link)
• SDS was regarded as out of control force within a force
• Intelligence 'hoovered up' on campaigning families

Special Demonstration Squad: unit which vanished into undercover world: Analysis: Officers infiltrated political groups for 40 years – but also targeted 18 families fighting for justice from police (Guardian, link)

Full-text report: Operation Herne: Special Demonstration Squad Reporting: Mentions of Sensitive Campaigns (pdf)

See: Undercover police spied on grieving families of De Menezes, Groce and Reel - Scotland Yard claims relatives were not the target of surveillance but that 'inappropriate' information about them was gathered (Guardian, link):

"Undercover police gathered intelligence on grieving families who were battling the Metropolitan police for justice, including the relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes, Cherry Groce and Ricky Reel....Scotland Yard claimed that the families were not the target of the operations but information on them was gathered and wrongly retained as part of the covert infiltration of political groups."

Met Police spied on families campaigning for justice (Channel 4 News, link):

"Families of those campaigning for justice against the Metropolitan Police – such as the families of Cherry Groce, Ricky Reel and Jean Charles de Menezes – were spied on by undercover officers from the SDS (Special Demonstrations Squad)."

See: Operation Herne report website into undercover police activities

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