The police’s own investigation into the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) is known as Operation Elter, and nominally overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (the successor to the Association of Chief Police Officers). It oversees the archive of the NPOIU and liaises with the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) in relation to them.
The NPOIU has not featured heavily in the earlier parts of the Undercover Policing Inquiry. A number of the undercovers are core participants in their own right, having their own legal representative - Scott Ingram of DAC Beachcroft (formerly of Slater & Gordon). Most of the rest are covered by the Metropolitan Police’s Designated Lawyers team.
All NPOIU managers and undercovers except EN12 Mark Kennedy 'Mark Stone' have sought anonymity over cover and real names. The Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, has granted this for the most part, only agreeing to the release of cover names already in the public domain, such as EN34 'Lynn Watson', HN596/EN32 'Rod Richardson' and HN519/EN1 'Marco Jacobs'. As a result, the majority of names of NPOIU undercovers will not be released to the public.
The Inquiry intends to deal with the NPOIU in Tranche 4, which is expected to be heard in 2025. Hence, only minimal detail has been disclosed to the public in comparison with the Speacial Demonstration Squad to date. However, some insight into how it worked has already emerged in the case taken to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal by Kate Wilson.
The unit is known to have deployed 22 undercovers, of which by June 2023, the Inquiry had determined that only eight would not have their cover names restricted. Most of these are undercovers who have been discovered by campaigners. Of the 67 NPOIU managers, the Inquiry has determined that only 24 will have their names released, 38 will keep their anonymity with 14 still to be determined as of June 2024.