Save the Spycops inquiry – write to the Home Office today!

The Spycops inquiry is under threat of being wound down or severely limited in its scope, as it approaches more recent cases of misconduct by undercover police infiltrating social movements and political groups.

CND has been a core participant in the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) – previously giving evidence on the targeting and infiltration of the organisation by both Special Branch and the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) of the Metropolitan Police during the 1980s. The inquiry has just finished open hearings about the SDS, which operated from 1968 to 2008, and a final report on the SDS is due next year.

However, the inquiry has yet to investigate the activities of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), a group which carried out spying of social movements from 1999-2011. There are survivors of abuse and misconduct by this unit who’ve been waiting since the start of the UCPI in 2015 for answers about what was done to them.

Tranche 4 of the NPOIU is meant to investigate these abuses and hear from survivors, while Tranche 5 will look at other undercover activities. However, the Home Office has now launched a consultation the inquiry’s future – with campaigners fearing that it is an attempt to scrap, whitewash, or severely limit the scope of investigations into more recent spying activities and abuses by police. We can’t let that happen.

What you can do

The Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance is calling on everyone to boycott the official consultation website and to directly email the Home Office instead! You can do this by using the letter template found on the COPS website here.

You can learn more about COPS and their campaign here.