CHIS Is a Threat To Rule Of Law

Should Police Be Allowed to Do Harm to Protect Us?

The Covert Human Intelligence Services (CHIS) Act passed onto the statute books earlier this year. It will enable “authorities” (including the police) to commit a crime – including sexual offences – and avoid prosecution. It followed an inquiry that scrutinised the activities of around 139 undercover officers who had infiltrated political groups since 1968. At least 20 of these officers had deceived women into sexual relationships, and some had fathered children with the women they met while undercover.

Following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the police will be coming under scrutiny again. But in my article I suggest that one of its problems appears to be an inability, or unwillingness, to tackle the misogyny that exists within the force. And the other, closely related, is that protecting the institution is taking precedence over the safety of the public. 

It’s for these reasons that I believe that a law that will give the police more powers, without having first done anything to put its house in order, is a worrying direction to be heading in, for our democracy and ultimately our safety.

For more, read my article for Kent Byline Times.

I’ve also written about Freeports, Journey of the Far Right into Government, Fighting Fascism: Art as Activism, and Fighting Fascism & Britain’s ‘Divide and Rule’.