Undercover – the book and the blog

Secret policeman Mark Kennedy. Investigation of Sir Christopher Rose will examine claims that have been deleted surveillance tapes that he recorded. Camera: Philipp Ebeling for the Guardian

We just started work on a book about undercover COP Mark Kennedy and police surveillance of the protesters.

Editors routinely don't like authors to share the contents of the book while you write them. But we're going to experience doing just that-using this blog to investigate. Here is where it asks you to collaborate with us.

The first story we wrote about the scandal, Kennedy, we rely on others to help piece together the jig-saw. As well as friends of the undercover COP alter ago ' Mark Stone, there were activists, campaigners, police sources, bloggers and advocates, contributed even random on Twitter.

Not everyone had access to crucial information. But almost all did bring an interesting perspective to the table.

The same was true, since, as it became obvious that Kennedy was not acting together, but part of a team of spies which included Lynn Watson, who has spent years living in Leeds, where he helped the set-up, a radical social Center and Mark Jacobs, who infiltrated an anarchist group in Cardiff.

You helped us with the remarkable story of Jim Sutton, who in the 1990s he has used the identity adopted ' Jim Boyling ' within the Group anti-roads claim the streets and married an activist was sent to spy on. Another officer under covered working in the same period, said spies have been liquidated to have sex with their targets as part of their distributions as part of a mysterious unit called the special demonstration team that he faced "subversive". The BBC later identified a sixth policeman under overcast, Simon Wellings.

The reaction in Parliament and throughout the country to undercover police dispute had profound shock and concern. To date, there have been eight formal requests arising from the scandal, including the investigation recently announced Court led by Sir Christopher Rose. So far there is no sign of public inquiry full requested activists, which means the risk of important questions going unanswered.

We are now eight months on from the moment that Kennedy was outed by activists from Indymedia. There is nothing to suggest this program of police surveillance has ceased and-most important thing for us-there is still much that we are unsure about.

We do not yet know the scale of this operation. Kennedy estimates that 15 other cooperatives undercover sa embedded in the protest movement. If it is true, who are these official? We can find them? Is it justified that police officers are still using false identity to disrupt the political campaigns?

And what did Kennedy really up to during her foreign deployments in Germany, Denmark, Spain, Ireland and Iceland? We did some investigations in all these countries, but some people doubt we got exactly right.

Then there is the long-standing issue of police spies using sex and close relationship to gain trust. If top cops are right when they say go to bed with goals was "absolutely not authorized", because it was the practice apparently so pervasive?

We also know what corporate interests may have motivated this spying program. Police have close links with private investigators who have also been planted moles in campaign groups for decades?

When did the police start infiltrating protest groups, and which organizations they did get inside? Who authorised these operations and for what reason? Possible long-term infiltration of activists ever be justified?

We want to know what you think.

We will use this space for updates as we develop the book. Expect regular blog-post under cover agents, we already know about, as well as revelations about those who don't do. And expect the debate-this is a controversial history.

Of course you can have that you want to share information on a confidential basis, and you can always drop us an email to paul.lewis@guardian.co.uk and private rob.evans@guardian.co.uk. We are also likely to come across material that we are not able to share until the book is published.

But, if possible, we would prefer the discussions to be held outdoors. The ongoing surveillance of the protesters was totally irresponsible and secretive.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of all this, we hope to be more transparent.

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