Background
"NETCU provides tactical advice and guidance on policing single-issue domestic extremism. The unit also supports companies and other organisations that are the targets of domestic extremism campaigns. NETCU reports through the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE) to the Association of Chief Police Officers Terrorism and Allied Matters - ACPO(TAM) committee." [3]
NETCU answered to the Association of Chief Police Officers' (ACPO) Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, and in particular to ACPO's National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway. [4] It worked with the Home Office, and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. [5]
The unit was created in or around May 2004 to coordinate police action in relation to animal rights campaigns. It was based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, which had been a focal point for animal rights activism as a result of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign. [6]
Apart from animal rights groups, it also investigated the UK Life League, a direct action anti-abortion group that protests outside abortion clinics. [7]
Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is a contract research organisation (CRO) founded in 1951 in Cambridgeshire, England. It has two laboratories in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. With over 1,600 staff, it is now the largest non-clinical CRO in Europe. In September 2015, Huntingdon Life Sciences, Harlan Laboratories, GFA, NDA Analytics and LSR associates merged into Envigo.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. SHAC ended its campaign in August 2014. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates. It has been the subject of several major leaks or undercover investigations by activists and reporters since 1989.
Keith Mann is a British animal rights campaigner and direct action activist who acted as a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and was alleged by police in 2005 to be a ringleader for the ALF. He was imprisoned twice, and is the author of From Dusk 'til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement (2007).
The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (ACPO) was a not-for-profit private limited company that for many years led the development of policing practices in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Established in 1948, ACPO provided a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinate their strategic operational responses, and advised government in matters such as terrorist attacks and civil emergencies. ACPO coordinated national police operations, major investigations, cross-border policing, and joint law enforcement. ACPO designated Senior Investigative Officers for major investigations and appointed officers to head ACPO units specialising in various areas of policing and crime reduction.
Operation Kratos referred to tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning. The tactics were developed shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks, based in part on consultation with Israeli and Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies on how to deal with suicide bombers. Little was revealed about these tactics until after the mistaken shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005, in the wake of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The term is no longer used by the Metropolitan Police, although similar tactics remain in force.
Greg Avery is a British animal rights activist. His latest involvement is with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), an international campaign to force the closure of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), an animal-testing company based in the UK and US.
Domestic terrorism in the United States consists of incidents confirmed as domestic terrorist acts. These attacks are considered domestic because these events happened within the United States. The events and attacks carried out include non US citizens, U.S. citizens and or U.S. permanent residents.
Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) or SO15 is a Specialist Operations branch within London's Metropolitan Police Service. Counter Terrorism Command was established as a result of the merging of the Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) and Special Branch (SO12) in October 2006, bringing together intelligence, operations, and investigative functions to form a single command. CTC has over 1,500 police officers and staff, and a number of investigators based overseas.
The Special Detective Unit (SDU) is the main domestic security agency of the Garda Síochána, the national police force of the Republic of Ireland, under the aegis of the Crime & Security Branch (CSB). It is the primary counter-terrorism and counter-espionage investigative unit within the state. The Special Detective Unit superseded the Special Branch, which itself replaced the older Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was founded in 1921. They work in conjunction with the Defence Forces Directorate of Military Intelligence (G2) – the Republic of Ireland's national intelligence service – on internal matters. The unit's headquarters are in Harcourt Street, Dublin City.
UK Life League is a British pressure group that opposes abortion. It describes itself as "The premier pro-life and family values campaigning organisation" and as "peacefully campaigning to end the violence of abortion". Life League is led by James Dowson, a Christian fundamentalist from Glasgow, based in Northern Ireland. Formerly a fundraiser for the British National Party, Dowson set up a new nationalist movement, Britain First, in May 2011, and in April 2013 helped to found the Protestant Coalition political party.
The Western Animal Rights Network (WARN) first appeared in 2005 as a coalition for animal rights groups in the West of England and South Wales and acted as a news service for animal rights demos and action reports.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. It originated in the 1970s from the Bands of Mercy. Participants state it is a modern-day Underground Railroad, removing animals from laboratories and farms, destroying facilities, arranging safe houses, veterinary care and operating sanctuaries where the animals subsequently live. Critics have labelled them as terrorists.
Heather Nicholson is a British animal rights activist.
The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) was run by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a private company connected to United Kingdom police intelligence, and was set up in 1999 to track green activists and public demonstrations. There are links between NPOIU, ACPO, National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU), National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU) and the Welsh Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU).
The National Domestic Extremism Team (NDET) was a police unit set up in 2005 within the association of Chief Police Officers to provide a dedicated response to tackling extremism. This team co-ordinates operations and investigations nationally, working closely in England and Wales with the Crown Prosecution Service which has set up a complementary network of prosecutors with specialist expertise in domestic extremism.
The National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit is a national police unit of the National Police Chiefs' Council within the Metropolitan Police Service Specialist Operations Group.
The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was an undercover unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, set up in 1968, to infiltrate British protest groups. It was part of the Special Branch, and worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It operated from 1968 to 2008.
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) is a national coordination body for law enforcement in the United Kingdom and the representative body for British police chief officers. Established on 1 April 2015, it replaced the former Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), following the Parker Review of the operations of ACPO.
The National Counter Terrorism Policing Network (NCTPN) is the national collaboration of police forces in the United Kingdom working to prevent, deter and investigate terrorism in the United Kingdom. The Network is governed by the National Police Collaboration Agreement Relating to Counter Terrorism Activities Made Under Section 22A of the Police Act 1996. The Network is accountable to the United Kingdom Government and the National Police Chiefs' Council Counter Terrorism Coordination Committee which is chaired by the Metropolitan Police Service Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations (ACSO) who also acts as the National Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing. The Network is also functionally coordinated by the Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism who is usually a Metropolitan Police Service Deputy Assistant Commissioner co-located within the Counter Terrorism Command.
