Speaking of police ...

[SerendipityJane]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-60132610

An activist deceived into a relationship with an undercover officer has been awarded £230,000 compensation after a tribunal found the Metropolitan Police breached her human rights.

...

Imagine if he'd fathered a child ? Imagine the layers of secrecy that would be put in place to prevent the poor innocent ever finding anything out. Like tendencies for genetic diseases. Hidden siblings.

And then of course, if a man lies to trick you into a relationship, how informed is the consent ?

Also I am not particularly impressed by the narrative that he was somehow a victim in all this.

I find that story confusing, how they had the resources to do this, why they would do that. She's an activist not a terrorist. Can you help me understand what threat she was supposed to have posed? I'm misunderstanding something.

This is part of a much larger police operation isthatthebestyoucando. It took place over a number of years and involved many police officers infiltrating environmental activist groups. Many of these officers went beyond their official undercover role and established relationships with women who believed these men were activists like themselves. Here's a link but it is a huge scandal that can't be fully covered in a short web article. Many of these women had children by these officers and were totally unaware of their true identities. In the same way, these officers' wives were unaware of what their husbands' 'work' involved. The man in this particular case is known to have had relationships with at least 10 women, including Kate Wilson:

is the Undercover Policing Inquiry? [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54753627]]

Grr the links from the BBC news app never work:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cg1ln7gm46et/undercover-policing-inquiry

Many of these women had children by these officers and were totally unaware of their true identities.

So some children have had the conversation that they were born as a result of state-sponsored lies. That won't affect anyones upbringing in the slightest.

And I'm of the mind that sex obtained by deception is rape. Plain and simple.

Or to put it another way. If one of the victims had had the opportunity to ask "Are you an undercover policeman ? Because I would never have sex with one." and is told "No I'm not, let's do it now ..." then it's rape. Thank you Met Police.

There was another thread recently where I had a mild roasting for being quite so distrustful of the police. My only worry is I am not distrustful enough. We know about rape and murder, of course. But is there even worse ?

It is an unbelievably shocking episode SerendipityJane. I don't know how any of the women have explained their children's paternity to them but there is no doubt they themselves would have been very unlikely to have had a consensual relationship with a police officer.

It has been suggested that the undercover officers went 'rogue' and started acting in ways that went way beyond their official remit but even if you accept that argument, it reflects badly on the police for not checking up on what was happening.

I feel so sorry for those women and the officers' wives who had no idea what was happening.

The first season of the podcast 'Bed of Lies' explored this topic and spoke with many of the women involved and about how they were deceived for so long. Well worth a listen.