Helen Steel et al., "Deep Deception: The Story of the Spycop Network, by the Women Who Uncovered the Shocking Truth" (Ebury, 2022)
In\xa0Deep Deception: The Story of the Spycop Network, by the Women Who Uncovered the Shocking Truth\xa0(Ebury, 2022), five women discuss their experiences of being manipulated into serious long-term relationships with undercover police officers. Through detective work and campaigning, these \u2018spycops\u2019 victims uncovered a hitherto-unknown practice whereby police officers were deployed for multiple years to surveil and report on activist groups.\xa0Many of these officers formed long-term intimate relationships with female activists;\xa0several also fathered children.\nThe Metropolitan Police acknowledged in 2015 that these relationships were \u201ca violation of the women\u2019s human rights, an abuse of police power and caused significant trauma\u201d. Yet\xa0the extent to which such long-term undercover deployment continues today is unknown.\nSince 1968, more than one thousand\xa0groups have been\xa0surveilled\xa0by undercover officers, with dozens of women deceived into relationships in the process.\xa0The vast majority of\xa0groups infiltrated\xa0were left-wing organizations, including feminist, anti-fascist, environmentalist, socialist and anti-apartheid campaigns.\nIn this interview, Helen Steel and Alison shared their experiences of multi-year relationships with police officers and their ongoing fight for justice alongside other victims and supporters including\xa0Police Spies Out of Lives,\xa0The Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance\xa0and the\xa0Undercover Research Group. Helen also discussed the intersection\xa0of undercover policing with the\xa0McLibel\xa0case. Finally, Alison and Helen reflected upon what these undercover policing practices tell us about the nature of policing in the UK, and the implications of these practices for British democracy.\nThis book is a timely and important contribution to our understanding of domestic security and surveillance, and essential reading for scholars of policing.\nCatriona Gold is a PhD candidate in Geography at University College London. She is currently researching the US Passport Office's role in governing Cold War travel, and broadly interested in questions of security, surveillance and mobility.\xa0She can be reached by\xa0email\xa0or on\xa0Twitter.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law