Undercover Policing Inquiry Hearings: Opening Statements

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is holding its second round of hearings (Tranche 1, Phase 2) between 21 April and 14 May 2021.

At these hearings, the Inquiry will hear from undercover officers and non-state witnesses about the Special Demonstration Squad between 1973 and 1982.

The first three days (21-23 April) will hear prepared opening statements from involved parties. These will be livestreamed on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel.

After this, from 26 April the Inquiry will be hearing evidence from witnesses. These hearings will not be livestreamed, but there will be a live transcript with a ten minute delay.

HOW CAN I FOLLOW THE SPYCOPS INQUIRY HEARINGS?

You can follow the evidence hearings in three different ways:

1. Through a rolling transcript with a 10-minute delay on YouTube
2. Through an audio stream with a 10-minute delay on Zoom (this is likely to be restricted to England & Wales)
3. Through a real-time audio-visual stream screened at the Amba Hotel in central London

There will also be live tweeting every day from COPS and Tom Fowler (using the hashtag #SpyCopsInquiry).

Additionally, as with the last round of hearings, COPS will be producing a daily report of the hearings. These will be posted on the UCPI – Public Inquiry section of the COPS site, and links to the reports will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter.

We will also do a weekly update on the blog. These will also be posted on our site with links from our social media, or you can get them direct by subscribing to our email newsletter in the box at the bottom of the sidebar on our home page.

Though the hearings are scheduled to run from 21 April to 14 May, no witnesses are currently scheduled for 14 May (though that may well change if earlier ones overrun), and Monday 3 May is a bank holiday so there will be no hearings that day.

Further details, including links to the YouTube streams and information on registering for the Zoom webinar and attending the Amba Hotel, can be found on the Inquiry’s hearing pages.

We’ll post the full schedule here when the Inquiry publishes it.

HOW ARE THE SPYCOPS INQUIRY HEARINGS ORGANISED?

The first ‘tranche’ of hearings is taking evidence about the activities of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) from its formation in 1968 to 1982. The tranche has, in turn, been broken into three phases.

Phase 1 evidence hearings were in November 2020, covering 1968-72.

Phase 2 will examine the SDS from 1973 to 1982. These evidence hearings due to start on 21 April 2021.

In Phase 3, the Inquiry will hear from SDS managers 1968-1982. Dates for phase 3 haven’t been confirmed yet.

The subsequent tranches will examine:

• 2 – Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1983-1992)

• 3 – Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1993-2007)

• 4 – National Public Order Intelligence Unit officers and managers and those affected by deployments

• 5 – Other undercover policing officers and managers and those affected by deployments

• 6 – Management and oversight (including of intelligence dissemination) by mid and senior rank officers, other agencies and government departments

For more information about the Undercover Policing Inquiry, see our UCPI FAQ.