英国前伦敦警视厅警察专员保罗·康顿在间谍警察公开调查中承认，1990年代警方便衣部队对遇害者斯蒂芬·劳伦斯家属的监视构成了制度性种族歧视。[1]
康顿在周二作证时表示，对劳伦斯家族的监视"完全符合制度性种族歧视的参数"。[1]他同时为特别示威队（SDS）官员数十年来的行为造成的伤害表示震惊，称"对所有在此过程中遭受伤害的人由衷道歉"。[1]然而，康顿声称自己在担任伦敦警视厅负责人期间（1993-2000）对这些监视活动一无所知。[1]
特别示威队成立于1968年，至2008年被解散，期间对主要是左翼团体进行了长达40年的秘密监视，每次部队部署通常持续四年。[1]康顿指出，SDS官员被要求每天以"谎言、欺骗和欺诈作为生活方式"。[1]
1999年由麦克弗森爵士主持的调查报告曾指出，伦敦警视厅内部的制度性种族歧视是劳伦斯谋杀案凶手逃脱司法的原因之一。[1]本次公开调查由已退休的法官约翰·米廷爵士主持，是在《卫报》披露特别示威队监视劳伦斯家族后建立的。[1]
Paul Condon, the former commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, acknowledged during testimony that the undercover monitoring of Stephen Lawrence's family by police officers in the 1990s constituted institutional racism. [1] Speaking on Tuesday, Condon stated that the surveillance was "fully compliant with the parameters of institutional racism." [1]
The covert operations were carried out by the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), which conducted secret surveillance on primarily left-wing organizations between 1968 and 2008, spanning four decades with individual deployments typically lasting four years. [1] Condon expressed shock at the conduct of SDS officers over decades, declaring he was "deeply troubled by the harm caused to every single person by the behavior of SDS officers over many years" and offering "a sincere apology to all those who were harmed in this process." [1]
Condon characterized the operational culture within the SDS by noting that officers "were required to live a daily life of lies, deception and fraud." [1] However, he maintained that he was unaware of these surveillance activities during his tenure as Metropolitan Police commissioner from 1993 to 2000. [1]
The public inquiry, chaired by retired judge John Mitting, was established following revelations by The Guardian that the SDS had monitored the Lawrence family. [1] A 1999 investigation by Lord Macpherson concluded that institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police was a contributing factor to the failure to bring Stephen Lawrence's murderers to justice. [1]