In the name of the law, part II

In a follow-up to Saturday’s story, women in the UK rallied yesterday in response to undercover police officers using sex to “infiltrate” groups.

DOZENS OF women demonstrated outside Scotland Yard, London, yesterday over the conduct of police officers who had sexual relationships with women they met while working undercover among environmental and left-wing protest groups.

One protester, Belfast student Maeve McKeown, said: “In the United States, that would be considered as rape, because there was no informed consent.”

The conduct of these policemen is a major headache for the British force, following the disclosure in a recent trial that policeman Mark Kennedy had sexual relationships with a number of women during the seven years he lived undercover among environmental activists. Two other officers have been outed since.

[…]

Demanding the identification of all the officers involved, Leila Deen, another of the demonstrators, asked a young uniformed Metropolitan Police officer standing guard outside New Scotland Yard: “Did you know your agents were using sex with women like us to get information? It is a clear abuse of public office.”

Acting Metropolitan Police commissioner Tim Godwin and Cmdr Bob Broadhurst are expected to face a difficult time today when they appear before the home affairs select committee in the House of Commons to explain why the Met gave false information about the use of undercover officers during the G20 protests in London in 2009.

The protester who commented on “informed consent” is incorrect however, as informed consent refers to a minimum intellectual capacity and/or emotional maturity (this usually refers to victims who are children, developmentally disabled, etc.). Fully capable adults who have been lied to by their sexual partners on the other hand are unfortunately par for the course. Aside from the obvious ethical violations the protesters address, I’m surprised that the issue of these officers being paid during these events hasn’t come up. Ahem, paid to have sex, and on the state’s dime?

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