The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) was run by[1] the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a private company connected to United Kingdom police intelligence, and was set up in 1999 to track green activists and public demonstrations.[2] It has been found that much of the Unit's work was against "activists working on social justice, anti-racist, and environmental campaigns" and legitimate dissent, rather than extremist groups,[3] with more than 1,000 political groups having been subjected to surveillance by covert officers.[4] The work of the group has been accused as having hobbled Climate-related protest in the late 2000s in the United Kingdom and more widely.[3]
There are links between NPOIU, ACPO, National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU), National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU) and the Welsh Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU).[5]