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In 1979, The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said:

""No action will be taken against any police officer of the Metropolitan Police Force as a result of the (Operation Countryman) enquiry because to do so would damage the morale of the Metropolitan Police Force" http://www.portia.org/chapter06/police.html

Source? Googling [1] finds this quote solely on a handful of polemical websites. Do we have any official/news reportage? 86.139.249.49 ( talk) 18:19, 31 January 2008 (UTC) reply

The opening paragraph says :-

The operation was conducted between 1978–1982 at a total cost of £3 million and led to eight police officers being prosecuted although none were convicted

however the Aftermath section says :-

Despite Countryman's recommendation that some officers should face criminal charges, no officer was ever charged with a criminal offence as a result of the investigation

While they might be talking about different investigations, but it makes it sound like Operation Countryman resulted both in eight officers being prosecuted and no officers facing charges, which is not possible. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:A88:1:E:FFFF:0:0:84F6 ( talk) 10:26, 8 April 2014 (UTC) reply

There is a statement no officer was ever charged with a criminal offence as a result of the investigation. which has the following citation:

"The Lancet Files". 13 September 2004. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004.

This is a web archive of what is now a dead link. I cannot find anything relevant on the archived link.-- Toddy1 (talk) 13:09, 21 April 2017 (UTC) reply

Two officers were convicted as a result of Operation Countryman. But I do not know whether that was in a separate trial from the 8 unconvicted it refers to, as I cannot consult references 1 and 2. DCI Phil Cuthbert and DS John Goldburn were convicted on 20 July 1982, sentenced to 3 years and 2 years respectively (Guardian, 21 July 1982, reproduced at https://www.nickdavies.net/1982/07/21/detectives-cuthbert-and-goldbourn-are-jailed/. This fact was also repeated in a recent BBC TV documentary, Bent Coppers. But it is hard for me to edit the statement, as I cannot see what the sources say, and so redraft it consistent with those sources. It may be that the 8 refer to a separate trial. Or else maybe it means that no Metropolitan Police were convicted: Cuthbert and Goldbourn were City of London Police, a separate force. Ivan Viehoff ( talk) 22:08, 5 May 2021 (UTC) reply

Much of the investigation's evidence was obtained by police officers going undercover as police officers.

What does this mean? Valetude ( talk) 17:43, 2 February 2019 (UTC) reply

"It's the way they tell em". Yeah, I wondered that too. Odd phrasing. —— SN 54129 16:34, 7 April 2020 (UTC) reply

It means the following: The investigators were police officers, just like the people they were investigating. Quit a lot of evidence was collected by investigators who posed as normal police officers. They pretended they were investigating normal crimes. Toddy1 (talk) 17:23, 7 April 2020 (UTC) reply

Cheers Toddy1, you're probably right, and it's certainly clearer. Unfortunatey it's still ^{citation needed} for now... :) —— SN 54129 17:46, 7 April 2020 (UTC) reply

This was a team of Met detectives based at Swanley in Kent overseen by DCI Snape and was tasked to arrest the Chainsaw gang led by career criminal Jimmy MOODY who attacked Security Express cash in transit vans, usually on a Thursday, and used petrol driven chainsaws to enter the vans and successfully steal £2m. Many of the villians were arrested, charged and sentenced but serious allegations against the detectives of planting or stealing evidence and fabricating interview records. 2A02:C7E:317D:F200:91C9:E4B9:8446:7D42 ( talk) 17:53, 24 April 2024 (UTC) reply

Ch Supt Alan Longhurst and Supt Bernie Davis working at Scotland Yard under Cmmder Mark Taylor and assisted by D/Sgt Joe Glass "investigated" the complaints against the Ohio Detectives but conveniently found they were all unsubstantiated... 2A02:C7E:317D:F200:91C9:E4B9:8446:7D42 ( talk) 17:59, 24 April 2024 (UTC) reply