Thread by @copscampaign

First up at today's #SpyCopsInquiry is Peter Skelton QC, representing the Metropolitan Police Service. He'll talk about
1. MPS approach to Inquiry
2. What went wrong
3. What's changed
4.. How good undercover policing is

Skelton says the Met has 'absolute commitment' to the Inquiry, which is news to those of us who've seen their delays and obstructions over the years

Skelton: Met doesn't seek to justify but to admit and improve. But undercover policing is important, though must be within legal & ethical boundaries. Must identify where this hasn't happened. Substantial changes have already been made in law & in police structure.

We were told this about the Regualtion of Investigatory Powers Act and Human Rights Act, but #SpyCops just ignored it

Skelton: We assure people the Met won't obstruct. But the Inquiry must be done 'safely', it mustn't put #SpyCops at risk. The docs disclosed yestersday show the Met is opening up on #SpyCops as never before

Skelton: Met is aware of continuing anger & distress of victims of #SpyCops. Throughout SDS existence it was separate from mainstream policing, gathering intelligence rather than evidence, so was never tested and scrutinised

Skelton: #SpyCops having relationships with women they targeted. This was wrong. He's now quoting at length from the 2015 Met apology to some of these women

Skelton: Met stands by the 2015 apology [but still won't actually give any answers or let women see their files]

Skelton: Met admits not caring about the families whose dead children's identity was stolen by #SpyCops and apologises campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2016/11/11/spy… [for years the Met refused to tell families, the Inquiry had to do it]

Skelton: #SpyCops engaged in criminal acts, 'joining in' with what activists were doing [seemingly trying to deflect from the fact that they were agents provocateur & took instigating roles]

Skelton: #SpyCops did valuable work, but whether eco infiltration or #blacklisting was justified is another matter. The Met understands victims want to know what happened and especially why. There 'may' be some deployments which were not justifiable, eg Stephen Lawrence's family

Skjelton; The Met 'appreciates' the lenght of time Stephen Lawrence's loved ones have waited for answers [the Met has stonewalled them for DECADES] & the Met is grateful for Duwayne Brooks & Doreen Lawrence's work [!!!!]

Skelton: #SpyCops were involved in 'collateral intrusion' on lives of those around targeted people, esp in the early days [as if it wasn't happening right up to the present]

Skelton: a big hand for the dedication professionalism & bravery of #SpyCops who risk their lives blahblahblah. The Met 'hasn't always understood' how to support the officers it basically pushed into a PTSD generator.

Skelton: policing is unrecognisable now from 1968 [yes but #SpyCops did the same stuff & GOT WORSE OVER TIME]. There are regulations that have limited the bad stuff, citing rules in 2000 & 2003 [which officers ignored]

Skelton: There are several statutory bodies with oversight of #SpyCops. Sexual relationships are never acceptable under new rules [police have said this was always the case, yet was ignored].

Skelton: use of fake identities is important, and #SpyCops never steal dead people's ID these days. Participation in criminal activity must be necessary & proportionate [yet again, this was always true, but #SpyCops do what they want]

Skelton: #SpyCops have a team of officers who oversee the deployment. Since 2014 all authorisation are granted by very senior police [slightly higher rank than previously, still police self-authorising]

Skelton: 'collateral intrusion' must be necessary & proportionate [this was always the case, we see in Mark Kennedy's notes that he addresses exactly this; it's a subjective judgement, police self-approving]

Skelton: #SpyCops now go through a rigorous selection procedure & proper training, & get training & advice from experienced officers. There is ongoing care inc psychological support during & after deployment

Skelton: now, the continuing value of undercover policing. We mustn't ignore how it keeps the public safe, unique value has to be recognised. It's approved by [inserts list of police & satellite bodies]

Skelton: undercover policing helps combat child abuse, human trafficking, modern slavery & more. Lots of it is online now with #SpyCops posing as potential victims. Prevents terrorist atrocities, & undercovers may be the only hope of stopping these things.

Skelton: So let's recognise the bravery of undercover officers, including those who were in the #SpyCops units that are the focus of the #SpyCopsInquiry.

Skelton: About the SDS 1968-72 that the Inquiry is about to examine, we need to understand historic context. So much change (inc positive; the Bill, abolishing death penalty, decriminalising homosexuality, legalising abortion). But also Rivers of Blood speech & NI Troubles

Skelton: Let's remember the assassination of Bobby Kennedy & strikes in France too [why not]. #SpyCops were among the first to be full time undercover, there was no training or standards because it was new [as if Special Branch hadn't been infiltrating for over 100 years by then]

Skelton: Let's not judge acts in the past by the standards of the present [because ID theft, sexual abuse & undermining the kinds of progressive change he just lauded was acceptable then?]

Skelton: #SpyCops were tasked to deal with subversives [without defining what the word means]. It was approved & funded by the Home Office & worked with MI5, we must see the documents from those agencies that deal with it

Skelton: Some #SpyCops evidence may have been 'retained unnecessarily' by modern standards, but it would have been hard for them to know what would turn out to be useful information until some time later.

Skelton: While individuals may not be bad, they may know people who are, so we can't judge #SpyCops for targeting people and groups who were harmless. The Met 'recognises' the strength of anger felt by such people

Skelton: The #SpyCops in this early part of the Inquiry are now very old or dead. This includes all Home Secretaries of the 1960s & 70s (2 Home Secretaries & 3 Met Commissioners have died since the #SpyCopsInquiry was announced]

Skelton: lots of relevant documents have been innocently destroyed in the meantime [the #SpyCops units were last known to be destroying files after the Inquiry was called. Officers refused to cooperate with the IOPC investigation]

Skelton: Let's not see #SpyCops as 'us versus them' just because a few officers were bad, Undercover work is really important, inherently intrusive but not necessarily malign. Some harm can be caused, but then some people spied on are dangerous, so hey.

Chair Sir John Mitting says it seems #SpyCops these days don't see it as part of their task to help MI5, nor infiltrate basically harmless political groups, nor single-issue campaigns that may cause disruption but not disorder. He wants Skelton to respond at 11.20 after a break

Here's a report on the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into police destroying #SpyCops files after the #SpyCopsInquiry was announced & a command given to preserve all such files metro.co.uk/2020/03/18/met…

When the powerful are caught doing the unjustifiable, they follow the same process:
- Ignore it
- Deny it
- Delay the reckoning
- Declare so much time has past, it's a different time, mistakes were made, lessons have been learned, nobody need lose their job or pension over it now

Peter Skelton QC, counsel for the Metropolitan Police, just riffed on the last one. He cited 'new rules' that were in place well before the likes of Mark Kennedy were deployed as #SpyCops. Insulting, evasive & demonstrably false twaddle showing contempt for victims & the Inquiry

Skelton's repeated assertion that we can't judge #SpyCops of the 1960s by the stanrds of today was especially infuriating. The spycops continued the practices & got worse over time until their targets exposed it in 2010.

But Skelton contradicted a point made by the Counsel to the Inquiry yesterday who pointed out that the Home Secretary desperately feared embarrassment if the truth of the units came out. This shows they knew it was very much against the morality of the time even then