Chief Superintendent HN773 Jon Boutcher was head of the Special Demonstration Squad for a short period in the final months of the unit, from September 2007 until Februari 2008.
After the spycops scandal broke, Boutcher was involved in improving the practice of undercover policing.
In 2014, as the Chair of the National Undercover Working Group, Boutcher defended undercover policing as a tactic despite 'unacceptable behaviour by a number of undercover officers in the past'. He then also stated that reforms were already underway, including the establishment of an oversight group. This group is believed to be the National Undercover Scrutiny Panel (also known as the National Oversight Group), set up in June 2015 of which he was a member too.
Deputy Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police, he was also National Policing lead for the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).
For more, see the profiles on the former URG website: National Undercover Working Group and National Undercover Scrutiny Panel.
Full profile on Jon Boutcher to come.