DR BETHAN LOFTUS Invisible Policing: Inside the World of Covert Surveillance

Covert and Undercover Policing Surveillance and the ‘pre-crime’ world (Zedner 2009) Widespread adoption of proactive and intelligence-led approaches to policing Police routinely perform visually striking display of their authority/power – e.g. flashing blue lights, uniform, arrests But, another strand of policing that does not want to be rendered visible - little is known about covert activities Subject of police investigation unaware they are under surveillance and that the investigation may infringe upon their private life (Sharpe 2002) Methods include - undercover officers, telephone tapping, visual and audio surveillance, ‘sting’ operations

The Research Principal Investigator on ESRC grant (Co-I Professor Benjamin Goold, UBC, £461,977)  How legislation designed to regulate covert policing has affected activities on-the-ground  First ethnography of inner-world of covert policing Direct and prolonged observations of officers who plan, authorise and carry out covert surveillance Approximately 1,000 hours spent in the field

1. The Operational Focus on the Marginal The team had been asked to do some ground work on the subject. They wanted to ascertain how he left his house—did he walk, cycle, or get picked up in a vehicle by an acquaintance? Detailed checks would also be carried out on anyone associated with him. […] A car fitted with a concealed surveillance camera was parked outside the subject’s house to capture the daily movements of the subject. […] The information gleaned from the operation would feed into the Force Intelligence System and would be used to inform the next phase of the surveillance operation. (Loftus Fieldnotes)

2. A ‘Dirty Work’ Culture Widespread practice of lying – important response to maintain the basic need to remain invisible: ‘When you join the job, from the word go, they train you as a police officers to be honest and sincere. But when you get to the covert world, they train you to be a liar’ (Officer, Mobile Surveillance Team) A ‘paradoxical experience’ - covert officers are both revered and resented

Interested? Read More! Goold, B., Loftus, B., and Mac Giollabhui, S. (Forthcoming 2017) Invisible Policing: Inside the World of Covert Surveillance. London: Routledge. Mac Giollabhui, S., Loftus, B. and Goold, B. (in press) ‘Watching the watchers: Reflections on an ethnographic investigation of covert policing’, Qualitative Research. Loftus, B., Goold, B., and Mac Giollabhui, S. (2015) ‘From a visible spectacle to an invisible presence: the working culture of covert policing’, British Journal of Criminology. (online first 05/08/15). O’Neill, M. and Loftus, B. (2013) ‘Policing and the surveillance of the marginal’, Theoretical Criminology 17 (4): Loftus, B. and Goold, B. (2012) ‘Covert surveillance and the invisibilities of policing’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 12 (3): Loftus, B. and Goold, B. (2010) ‘Covert policing and the regulation of investigatory powers act 2000’, Archbold Review, 9 (3): 3-12.