Lois Austin, Socialist Party member and core participant in the inquiry
On 29 June, the media were locked into a Ministry of Justice building in central London to receive the interim report of Judge Sir John Mitting on the Undercover Police Inquiry.
The sustained campaign to expose the police spies scandal meant that, despite all the problems with the inquiry, and there are many, and while not assigning blame at this stage, Mitting had to recognise that:
“There were four crucial issues which should have alerted the Metropolitan Police [MPS] and Home Office to serious problems. They were: long-term intrusive and sometimes sexual relationships by undercover officers, the legality of entering private homes without a warrant or just cause, the theft of deceased children’s identities by officers, undercover officers taking on positions of responsibility in the groups they were targeting and using that to report on personal details of people engaged in legitimate activities.”
Highest level
He went on to say that these issues “should have been addressed at the highest level within the MPS and within the Home Office”.
He concluded: “The question is whether the end justified the means (…) I have come to the firm conclusion that, for a unit of a police force, it did not; and that had the use of these means been publicly known at the time, the SDS [Special Demonstration Squad] would have been brought to a rapid end.”
The Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, Police Spies Out Of Lives, Blacklist Support Group and the Undercover Research Group welcomed the interim report. We have only got this far due to the determination of campaigners. All the way along, the police have denied any wrongdoing and obstructed the inquiry. For years they would neither confirm nor deny undercover police had sexual relationships with women activists; they have had to fight every step of the way.
But the inquiry does have huge problems. Campaigners want their files, the cover names of all the ‘spycops’, the full list of all organisations spied on, anonymity orders for undercover police and secret hearings removed, and the inquiry fully resourced so that it can conclude sooner – before vital evidence is destroyed or key participants (state and non-state) are no longer with us.
Despite the inquiry running for seven years, so far it has only dealt with the years from the start of the Special Demonstration Squad in 1968 to 1982. It will take many years before the inquiry publishes its full findings. Meanwhile, we have a government introducing new laws which strengthen police powers and gives undercover state operatives immunity from prosecution if they break the law while on duty at home or abroad.
Campaigners stress that the interim report is just the beginning; more shocking revelations will come out as the inquiry progresses. It is clear from the evidence so far that many undercover officers had sexual relationships and that activists were reported on in the most offensive way, with racist and sexist language regularly used to describe targets.
Secrets
There are many issues not dealt with in the report and campaigners are calling for them to be properly addressed. These include the central role of MI5 – just about all undercover police reports were sent to them; the role of those in charge of the Met – it is inconceivable that they did not know what was going on; government involvement; sexual abuse of women targeted; the targeting of family justice campaigns; blacklisting of trade unionists – not mentioned at all in this report; and the reporting on children.
Crucially, campaigners want to know what secret political policing spy units exist today, and we want them closed down.
