The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU) was a

British police Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by police, police constables of ...

organisation funded by, and reporting to, the

Association of Chief Police Officers 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 ...

(ACPO) that coordinated police action against groups in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

it described as

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

Structure

As of April 2007, it was headed by Superintendent

Steve Pearl Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation), se ...

.Copping, Jasper
"Animal rights extremists target farmers"
''The Sunday Telegraph'', 14 April 2007. Because the ACPO was not a public body but rather a

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...

, NETCU was exempt from

freedom of information laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatis ...

and other kinds of public

accountability In ethics and governance, accountability is equated with answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public secto ...

, even though they were funded by the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

and deployed police officers from regional forces.

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." NETCU answered to the

' (ACPO) Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, and in particular to ACPO's National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway. It worked with the Home Office, and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. The unit was created in or around May 2004 to coordinate police action in relation to

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

campaigns. It was based in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

, Cambridgeshire, which had been a focal point for animal rights activism as a result of the

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty 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. HLS tested medical and non-medical substances on around 75,00 ...

campaign. Apart from animal rights groups, it also investigated the

UK Life League 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 Jame ...

, a

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

group that protests outside abortion clinics.

Takeover by the Metropolitan Police

In November 2010 it was announced that the three ACPO units commanded by the National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit would be rebranded as the National Domestic Extremism Unit and brought under the control of the Metropolitan Police by Summer 2011.

The future of NETCU

According to NETCU's own website : following reviews within ACPO TAM and a HMIC Value for Money Review, it was agreed by the ACPO TAM board to merge the three Domestic Extremism units into single national function under a lead force. The National Co-ordinator for Domestic Extremism, Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway, is currently managing the merger said "The three domestic extremism units were set up at different times during a six year period, with the current economic climate and the need to maximise resources it makes sense to merge." An article in ''The Guardian'' on the three "domestic extremism" units working under the direction of Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway states that : concerns have been growing about the accountability and subject to agreement they will be taken over by the Met under a "lead force" agreement – the same way the Met has overall command of national counter-terrorism operations.

Structure

Background

Takeover by the Metropolitan Police

The future of NETCU

See also

Notes

Further reading