The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) has today (29 June 2023) published its first report into the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) a secret unit within the Metropolitan Police.
The report, which focuses on SDS operations and practices between 1968 and 1982, found that six undercover officers had sexual relationships with at least 13 women. Officers entering into sexual relationships with the women they were surveilling was also found by the UCPI to be a ‘perennial feature’ of the SDS until its closure in 2008.
The report concluded that the actions of this unit were disproportionate and unlawful and the unit should have been closed down at an early stage.
Harriet Wistrich, Director of Centre for Women's Justice, said: “Over twelve years ago I represented eight women deceived into sexual relationships by undercover police officers. It was through their tenacity and courage in speaking out that the cover on a dark secret hidden even within the Met Police was blown open.
“This first interim report has yet to examine the many more cases now known about or draw any specific conclusions as to this practice. But it is now clear that had the Met acted lawfully none of these deeply damaging deceitful relationships would have happened at all. The Inquiry must now go on to shed further light on the origins of a misogynistic culture that pervades policing today, as exposed in the Baroness Casey review and the phenomenon of police-perpetrated abuse.”
The Undercover Policing Inquiry was launched in 2015 and its investigation is split into six tranches. The next public hearings will take place in 2024.
Further reading
Press release from Police Spies Out of Lives