Covert Policing Practices and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Criminology Centre
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Loftus B
(2019)
Normalizing covert surveillance: the subterranean world of policing.
in The British journal of sociology
Loftus B
(2012)
Covert surveillance and the invisibilities of policing
in Criminology & Criminal Justice
Loftus B
(2022)
The moral and emotional world of police informants
in The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles
Loftus B
(2016)
From a Visible Spectacle to an Invisible Presence: The Working Culture of Covert Policing
in British Journal of Criminology
Loftus, B
(2022)
The Handbook of Police Ethnography
Loftus, B
(2010)
Covert Policing and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
in Archbold Review
Mac Giollabhuí S
(2016)
Watching the watchers: conducting ethnographic research on covert police investigation in the United Kingdom
in Qualitative Research
O'Neill M
(2013)
Policing and the surveillance of the marginal: Everyday contexts of social control
in Theoretical Criminology
| Description | 1. The research generated significant new understandings of covert policing, including: how legislation surrounding covert policing impacted on the planning, authorisation and conduct of operations; the occupational cultures of covert officers working on-the-ground; and how covert policing has become a normalised and accepted practice within contemporary policing. 2. We spent over 1,000 hours in the field observing covert police. This has opened up new methodological debate (particularly around research ethics and safety), and has also acted as a point of reference for other researchers wishing to learn and explore covert policing cultures and practices. 3. New and important research questions emerged, particularly around how covert policing impacts upon the surveilled should they become aware of their role within a clandestine police operation. While our role in the ethnographic fieldwork inevitably involved watching (with the police we observed) those under surveillance, we have subsequently become interested in how surveillance practices are felt by those on the receiving end, and with what consequence. |
| Exploitation Route | The completed study has been of genuine scholarly importance to other researchers working in the field, both within the UK and globally. It was the first ever ethnographic account of covert policing and has provided researchers with an unprecedented insight into how this aspect of law enforcement is carried out in the UK. In particular, the research has provided the academic community with a detailed and contextualised account of how the introduction of legislation designed to regulate covert policing is being received and implemented in the field. In the first instance the proposed study has been of major importance to criminologists and sociologists of policing. The research has filled a long standing void within the literature, and has done do so using brave and innovative methodology. The study has also provided a detailed, contextual understanding of how RIPA 2000 has affected the routine and extraordinary surveillance activities of police forces in the UK. It did this by making the perspectives, experiences, cultures and practices of covert officers the centre of the analysis. The study has provided regulators, police managers and senior policymakers with an unprecedented insight into how current provisions are being received and implemented by police organisations and covert officers. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | Non-academic: Aspects of the research (publications) have fed into and informed the ongoing inquiry into Undercover Policing - i.e., the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI). The research has been presented to several of the key Core Participants at the heart of the inquiry. Academic: The research was the first comprehensive ethnographic field study of covert policing. Thus, it represented a methodological breakthrough. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Simon Fellowship |
| Amount | £120,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2011 |
| End | 12/2015 |
| Description | UCPI |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited to present research on covert policing to Core Participants in the Undercover Policing Inquiry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |