police

Following revelations that undercover police officers infiltrated hundreds of political and justice campaigns in the UK, the government launched an Undercover Policing Inquiry in 2015. Three years later, to cries of ‘no justice, no peace’, dozens of spying victims marched out of the latest Inquiry hearing, denouncing the process and calling for the resignation of presiding judge John Mitting.

After Alex S Vitale's appearance at Conway Hall last week to launch his new book, The End of Policing, our Research Fellow Connor Woodman and Novara's Sam Swann discuss with Alex the role of police in society and ask what the alternatives might be.

Listen to the podcast here.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the unlawful killing of Christopher Alder in a police station in Hull. 

His sister, Janet Alder, has spent the subsequent years campaigning to bring the circumstances of his death to light. She has, as a consequence, been the victim of police surveillance by Humberside police. It was only officially confirmed to Janet that she had been under surveillance after the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) (now the Independent Office for Police Conduct) investigated the matter in 2013.

The police are building a near 'impenetrable wall of silence' around some of their most secret and harmful practices, according to a new report out today (Tuesday 24 October). The report shows that over six years on from revelations about police infiltration of political activist groups, and more than two years since the establishment of a public inquiry to investigate their activity, little more has come to light about undercover policing practices.

One of our trustees, Lee Bridges, has written an assessment of the Lammy Review for the Institute of Race Relations, where he is also a trustee.