Home Office Response Letter
Representations were made to the (then) Home Office Ministers Kate Hoey M.P. and Paul Boateng M.P. On 19 May 1999 Hoey enclosed a letter from Mr Boateng (its date had been blacked out) who wrote that Century had been deployed because "all conventional methods had been exhausted and a covert operation was the last option to infiltrate the criminal network. All issues and decisions were considered at the highest level before being actioned ... Since the actions and decisions taken by police officers ... are operational matters they are the responsibility of the chief officer of police ... there is no authority for Ministers to intervene in police commanders' operational responsibility. I suggest that the matter should be taken up directly with the Chief Officer if there are specific concerns about their work". Kate Hoey expressed an "appreciation that this was not a response that one would have hoped for".
Read more about this topic: Operation Century
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