NPCC response to Lush 'Spy Cops' campaign

Chief Constable Sara Thornton said: "Undercover policing plays a critical role in gathering evidence and intelligence to protect people from harm and the work of undercover officers can, and has, saved lives.

“We fully accept that some undercover policing operations, ethics and behaviour in the past were a violation of the victims’ human rights, an abuse of police power and caused significant trauma, and we are grateful to those women who told their stories because it brought shameful practices into the light.

“Alongside the College of Policing we have already acted to prevent it happening to others, with new training, guidance and processes in place to ensure undercover operations are lawful, ethical, and proportionate.

“But while it may have been well-intended, this campaign from Lush UK is both insulting and damaging to the tens of thousands of officers who place themselves in harm’s way to protect the public on a daily basis, and who have nothing at all to do with the undercover inquiry.”