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#SpyCops statement

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This is not an anti-state/anti-police campaign. We are aware that the police forces of the UK are doing an increasingly difficult and dangerous job whilst having their funding slashed.  We fully support them in having proper police numbers, correctly funded to fight crime, violence and to be there to serve the public at our times of need. 

This campaign is not about the real police work done by those front line officers who support the public every day - it is about a controversial branch of political undercover policing that ran for many years before being exposed.  

Our campaign is to highlight this small and secretive subset of undercover policing that undermines and threatens the very idea of democracy. There is an age old understanding that our government and public institutions are there to protect and preserve the rights and safety of the public. In the case of these secretive undercover units, their work went well beyond the boundaries of acceptable police tactics and is now the subject of an ongoing public inquiry, which was instigated by Theresa May during her time as Home Secretary when the scale and scope of the breaches of protocols started to become clear. 

This public inquiry needs help from the public to keep it on track and ensure that this one opportunity for full honesty and disclosure is not lost or squandered.  All citizens should be concerned when human rights are abandoned by those in power.  The police themselves have admitted in their public apology to seven of the females deceived into long-term relationships with police spies, that these actions were "a violation of the women’s human rights, an abuse of police power and caused significant trauma”. In a recent court case the police admitted the actions amounted to "inhumane and degrading treatment" breaching Article 3 of the European Declaration of Human Rights. Those victims are now asking that the public inquiry demands that the undercover units release a full list of the undercover names used by their operatives, release a list of which campaign groups were targeted, and also that they release the information and data entries they hold on individuals whose lives and homes were infiltrated during these operations.  Without this full disclosure there is no way of knowing the full extent of what happened during the dark years of this renegade secret policing operation - and that full disclosure might not happen unless the public demand it. 

Find out more about the campaign here. 

Comments (96)
96 Comments

Jerry Lives On

about 6 days ago

Well done for highlighting abuse of power in the police. Surprised at all the negative comments. Perhaps these people have never experienced shoddy treatment by officers or still believe that the force is somehow beyond reproach? I last believed that when I was about 6 years old. Sadly, while there are undoubtedly many officers with integrity, the force as a whole has demonstrated time and time again that it can’t be trusted to deal with internal scandals - closing ranks and pretending everything’s ok. Thank you for speaking truth to power. You’ve got a new customer right here.

Hunshine sunshine

about 6 days ago

I was just about to order a bunch of stuff from you, having popped into the shops infrequently. However, I work in an undercover policing unit - counter corruption- and your home page alone has stopped me wanting to shop, for the sheer amount of anti-covert messages on there. Stand up for what you believe in by all means but for goodness sake think much harder about how you phrase, word and advertise things. This song just about government units, it’s about real people and real lives.

lauramauchan_6670763

about 1 week ago

I agree that those undercover should be held accountable for what they did to those poor women. Using clothed police officers on your window displays suggests to many people that you were targeting all police units.

about 1 week ago

Should they have used unclothed police officers instead? It's not the worst idea, they could combine it with a naked shower gel display ... think about it, Lush.

ellydavis_6684047

about 1 week ago

Thanks for bringing this unacceptable situation to the forefront, it risked getting entirely swept under the carpet. Many people hadn't heard of it at all. I hope you stick with the #SpyCops campaign but change some of the imagery. Maybe go for something on a more personal level, highlighting the stories of the women who were affected by what they did. Perhaps with this imagery you gave people in general too much credit, many people just saw the police helmet and, looking no further, jumped to the conclusion you were having a go at all police. You need to keep the imagery simple stupid.

dramatica_6683939

about 1 week ago

Unfortunately, despite your protestations, your campaign came across as being anti-all police. It was manifestly ill conceived and poorly executed. Basically whoever conceived it should be shot. That said, you could have salvaged something from the mess. When you finally and belatedly pulled the campaign you could have issued a fulsome apology, stated that you got it wrong and come out with some sort of platitude that you 'got it wrong'. Instead you thought it would be a great idea to say that actually you are not sorry and think that, despite ample and fairly universal commentary to the contrary you had it completely right. To compound this, you cite the 'health and safety' of your shop workers as the reason for taking the campaign down. Frankly, this stinks worse that the original campaign itself. Also, you take a stand against censorship. Are you therefore able to explain how you square this with your current approach on Facebook which is to frantically delete all the 1* reviews being left. At time of writing this, your 1* reviews are down from 35K to 30K and still falling as you delete them, despite growing irritation from negative posters that you are engaged in this sort of censorship. Personally I view this censorship as equally unacceptable and, in the context of marketing, borderline fraudulent.

sara.allerton_6670424

about 1 week ago

I think this campaign by Lush was brilliant and has inspired my love of Lush and made me want to support you for ever - it is sad that our police wish to cover up their corruption - be strong Lush and know we love you

about 1 week ago

Good for you for bringing this to a wider audience. People act like the police are some holy order that is above criticism and this is a sick, brainwashed right-wing way of thinking. The UK is not some totalitarian state yet. Your tax dollars pay for them and they work for you. Do you want your money to go toward creeps abusing their power to get into girls' pants? MIss me with that "#NotAllPolice" mess, too. Nowhere did Lush say it was all police. If critical thinking is beyond your ken then perhaps you should avoid debate.

about 1 week ago

Unfortunately, (alleged) infiltration has been going on since God was a girl. When I heard about your campaign, I felt it was obvious you were making your point - not your denigration - of our Police. Your raisons d'etre are Anti- Cruelty to Animals and the Planet, Animal Rights and Campaigning for such Rights. Please could your next campaigns be Anti-Fur imports and Anti-Live Animal exports (for a start?). I shall continue as a Lush customer, just love your products. Thank you.

keitaena_6683182

about 1 week ago

Thank you Lush for bringing the hushed up investigation back into the public eye. Police do need to be accountable for the methods they use, otherwise none of us would be safe. We want to trust the police, and we want to be able to trust our partners.