The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), an undercover police unit that infiltrated political groups for decades, was shut down because it conducted unjustified surveillance and was poorly managed, the spycops public inquiry has heard. Jon Boutcher, who took over responsibility for the unit while serving as a detective chief superintendent in Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist division, concluded within months that it had to be wound up. He is now the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Most groups posed no threat
Boutcher told the inquiry that most of the political groups infiltrated by the SDS "posed no threat to public order, let alone democracy." These included pro-Palestinian supporters and leftwing groups. In contrast, very few undercover officers were directed to infiltrate terrorist groups, despite an "increasing and enduring threat from international terrorism from which people were losing their lives."
The SDS had been lauded as a "jewel in the crown" of Scotland Yard by its supporters within senior ranks. However, Boutcher's searing criticism highlighted the "abusive and inappropriate behaviour" of SDS undercover officers, which damaged members of the public. Officers routinely formed intimate relationships with women they were spying on without disclosing their true identities. Boutcher said the "sexual abuse of many vulnerable women by some SDS operatives" caused "incalculable and intolerable harm."
Spying on grieving families
Boutcher also stated that the SDS should never have spied on grieving families, such as the relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent man shot dead by police on the London Underground in 2005. The unit also collected highly intrusive information about protesters, including their friendships and living arrangements. The inquiry is examining the conduct of 139 undercover officers in the SDS and another covert unit who infiltrated mainly leftwing organisations between 1968 and at least 2010. They assumed fake identities and pretended to be political activists in deployments that usually lasted four years.
Toxic atmosphere and disbandment
This week, the inquiry heard how, in its final days, there was a "toxic" atmosphere between the unit and more senior Scotland Yard ranks. Boutcher, with the agreement of his superiors, disbanded the SDS in what he called "quite a groundbreaking" decision, as it had been running covert operations for 40 years. He said the SDS mounted "almost like a rearguard action" to justify its existence, exhibiting a "very much siege mentality in many ways."
Boutcher suspected the SDS was gathering an "extremely limited" amount of useful information and asked the unit to list its successes over the previous five years. During that time, undercover officers had spied on environment groups, the Socialist Workers party, and campaigns against racism and the arms trade. The purported triumphs were "embellished and exaggerated," almost "akin to fairytales," he said.
Financial and training concerns
Boutcher was also concerned that public money allocated to the unit was not properly accounted for. Officers were claiming "vast amounts of overtime," and when drastic cuts to these payments were proposed, many threatened to resign. The unit was poorly trained, and all but one of the undercover officers refused to undergo further training. Initially, Boutcher believed the SDS could be reformed and re-oriented to infiltrate terrorist groups, but he concluded this was not possible because the unit had become "insular and very parochial" and was resistant to change.
