The Ethics of Undercover Policing


Book Description

Despite the media controversies surrounding high-profile cases of undercover policing, it is not always clear what ethical issues are at stake. Can undercover policing be justified? What are the ethical issues surrounding concealment and infiltration? What larger questions does undercover policing raise about the nature of policing and the legitimacy of coercive state action? In this timely and clear account, Christopher Nathan explores these questions and more. He rejects the view that the consequences of undercover policing always justify the means, instead advancing an argument that through their actions people can make themselves morally liable to some forms of undercover policing. Drawing on several recent, high-profile case studies, Christopher Nathan argues for a new understanding of proportionality in undercover policing that takes account of innocent parties, vulnerable targets, and manipulation into wrongful action. He also defends a central role for the judiciary in the oversight of undercover policing.




Undercover Policing and the Corrupt Secret Society Within


Book Description

A former police officer reveals all in a shocking autobiography “detailing his time undercover amongst some of the UK’s toughest criminals” (Daily Mirror). Garry Rogers played a key role in one of the UK’s most successful undercover policing operations, targeting the football hooliganism which blighted the domestic and international game. From Old Trafford to Turkey and Sweden to Sardinia, this working class lad turned undercover cop infiltrated some of the most notorious hooligan gangs at club and England level as part of Greater Manchester Police’s groundbreaking Omega Unit. When the force extended its undercover policing operations to target serious and violent crime, it was Garry who gained the trust of armed robbers, drug dealers and a murderer securing the evidence to take them off the streets, often for many years. But after five years at the cutting edge of covert operations, and with a new, inexperienced and ultimately corrupt officer in charge of the unit, Garry found himself dangerously exposed to violent criminals living just minutes from his family home. And when he turned to the force for support he was met with a wall of silence, accusations, and what one chief constable later described as a Masonic conspiracy that eventually pushed him out of the job after 28 years. Now he’s determined to tell his story—the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.




Undercover


Book Description

"This is the most comprehensive and thoughtful work ever done on undercover policing. It will be the benchmark by which all further scholarship in this area will be judged."—Jerome Skolnick, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law "If you believe in undercover tactics, this book will warn you. If you are opposed to covert activities by the police, this excellent study will force you to rethink your position. . . . Undercover is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand the threat, but also the usefulness, of surveillance by law enforcement officials."—R. Drinan, Georgetown University "Gary Marx's book is one of the best of the rare species, thoughtful and analytic books about police surveillance. He has a thousand stories, most of them current . . . and he makes a solid study out of them. He has written a sociological map for surveillance, giving it a structure that it has never before had."—P. Chevigny, New York University "This is the best single treatment of the problem of undercover investigations in our literature. Gary Marx writes not only with erudition and sensitivity, he is a very sensible man as well. He has mastered a vast amount of detail while not losing sight of the big picture. I cannot praise this book too highly."—J. Kaplan, Stanford University "A tour de force on a very difficult subject. . . . This is an important, needed, well-executed book. It will be widely read and used."—D. Bayley, State University of New York, Albany "A remarkable success at weaving legal and sociological factors in an otherwise controversial and seemingly irreconcilable interplay of disciplines."—J. Wilczynski, Prosecutor's Brief "A wonderful book!"—Professor Arthur Miller, C-NBC Live "Deserves a wide audience beyond practitioners and scholars."—A. Bouza, Chief of Police, Minneapolis




Undercover


Book Description

'Undercover lays bare the deceit, betrayal and cold-blooded violation practised again and again by undercover police officers - troubling, timely and brilliantly executed.' Henry Porter The gripping stories of a group of police spies - written by the award-winning investigative journalists who exposed the Mark Kennedy scandal - and the uncovering of forty years of state espionage. This was an undercover operation so secret that some of our most senior police officers had no idea it existed. The job of the clandestine unit was to monitor British 'subversives' - environmental activists, anti-racist groups, animal rights campaigners. Police stole the identities of dead people to create fake passports, driving licences and bank accounts. They then went deep undercover for years, inventing whole new lives so that they could live incognito among the people they were spying on. They used sex, intimate relationships and drugs to build their credibility. They betrayed friends, deceived lovers, even fathered children. And their operations continue today. Undercover reveals the truth about secret police operations - the emotional turmoil, the psychological challenges and the human cost of a lifetime of deception - and asks whether such tactics can ever be justified.




Undercover


Book Description

3. Leaders of Men.




Undercover Policing


Book Description

There needs to be a fundamental review of the law governing undercover police operations, including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The Committee recommends the publication of a consultation paper before the next election, with a view to publishing draft legislation at the beginning of the next Parliament. The Committee finds that there is an unsatisfactory degree of ambiguity in the current legal framework governing undercover operations and that the current legislation "fails adequately to safeguard the fundamental rights of the individuals affected". The use of the identities of dead children to create cover identities for undercover officers could potentially have put bereaved families at risk. There should be a full and unambiguous apology from the forces concerned to the families and the practice should never be followed in future. Operation Herne, which is investigating these allegations, has already cost £1.2million and has not yet made any arrests. It should be brought to a conclusion as swiftly as possible, so that families and victims involved can achieve closure




Language and Online Identities


Book Description

Drawing upon a unique forensic linguistic project on online undercover policing the authors further understanding of language and identity.




Crossing the Line


Book Description

As he rose through the ranks of various departments of the Metropolitan Police, Christian Plowman dreamt of being an undercover cop. When he finally achieved his ambition, becoming one an elite group of officers, the reality of covert work turned his life into a nightmare. To catch criminals, Christian bought and sold drugs with taxpayers’ money, been beaten up, arrested at gunpoint and barricaded in a pub by a gang of marauding gypsies – all in a day’s work. At one stage, he was running almost a dozen mobile phones to keep track of his different identities and had so many aliases that he nearly forgot who he was. He put his life on the line for the job but was to find that being the ‘best of the best’ wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The pressure became so intense that he even contemplated suicide. Crossing the Line is a visceral, gripping account of what it really takes to be an undercover cop. It exposes how the Met conducts its business behind the scenes and reveals the harsh realities of modern covert police work.




Undercover


Book Description

Providing a rich picture of past and present undercover work, and drawing on unpublished documents and interviews with the FBI and local police, this penetrating study examines the variety of undercover operations and the ethical issues and empirical assumptions raised when the state officially sanctions deception and trickery and allows its agents to participate in crime.




Betrayed


Book Description

The riveting tale of two honest and courageous police officers whose lives were nearly destroyed by the pressure, the danger, and the terrible isolation of living life undercover What is it really like to live as an undercover cop? Joe and Jessie joined the New South Police believing they could make a difference, but their whole lives became a lie. They were cops pretending to be criminals, targeting drug dealers, criminal gangs, and, worst of all, crooked police. Surviving on deceit and gut instinct, Joe and Jessie lived in a world of drugs, violenc.