Undercovers timeline

Timeline of SDS undercover officers

It’s difficult to get an overview of how many groups were targeted over time. And how many undercover officers have been active through the years. To help understand the scale of the operations, we have put together a detailed timeline. It shows the deployment of officers of the Special Demonstration Squad between 1968 and 2008. (Information on the later NPOIU officers is not available yet.)

Statements from the Inquiry and Metropolitan Police indicate that there were 118 police deployed as undercover officers by the SDS.

While we have (also) compiled the most complete list of SDS officers to date, this timeline is not complete. For some spycops the official Inquiry has not released any dates at all yet. Many of the dates are approximate for now, as the Inquiry is known to have made mistakes. Due to the – very – limited information released, we have no way of checking everything.

Sources: the Undercover Policing Inquiry’s list of cover names and associated anonymity rulings and material from URG’s profiles of undercovers at Undercover Research Portal.

See our Who’s Who of Spycops Targets for an overview of the groups spied on over the years.


List of undercovers who have a full profile:

Adrian Radford a.k.a. Ian Farmer (corporate spy, also working for the police)

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Spycops Inquiry: Opening statement from Dónal O’Driscoll

Donal O’Driscoll Opening Statement on Zoom

Today, 5 November, Dónal O’Driscoll, core-member of the Undercover Research Group, delivered his opening statement for the Undercover Policing Inquiry. As a core-participant he is representing himself, and in this statement his work for URG, his many meetings with others targeted by spycops and his personal experience came together, eloquently, in a most powerful speech.

Chair,

1. I shall make additional oral points as well as addressing my written statement. I am aware other opening statements make points and criticisms which I simply adopt rather than repeat in my limited time. I believe them justified from my own experience of the often high-handed approach taken towards those of us on the non-state side.

2. I have been left with the impression that the Inquiry believes it can do its work without the non-state non-police core participants if needed. That it can learn the truth adequately enough from material provided by the police. That it can interpret the events we lived through, the moments and movements we were part of, without our help. That the truth can be obtained from the words and documents of units whose core training was to lie to people and was willing to pervert the course of justice. Continue reading

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