The Met Police collected information on 18 justice campaigns - including that of Jean Charles de Menezes - a report has said.
Campaigns for two men shot dead by mistake in London - Mr Menezes and Harry Stanley - were among those targeted, the BBC understands.
Operation Herne - which reported back on the Special Demonstration Squad - cited a failure of senior management.
The Met said it regretted "enormously" the distress caused.
In his
report into undercover operations, Operation Herne's lead Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon said undercover police had gathered information relating to 18 families and campaigns for justice over the course of 35 years.
He said his review had found the campaigns were "mentioned" in records held by the Metropolitan Police's - now disbanded - SDS.
'Collateral intrusion'
Mr Creedon told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme the information gathered by SDS was "never, ever direct spying or undercover activity against these very peaceful, legitimate campaign groups".
The information was "collateral intrusion", he said.
Asked if he was certain no spying took place, he said: "It would have been completely against what the SDS was there for - it was there to try and stop protest and try and make sure the capital was a safer place to live in."
The campaigns, from 1970 to 2005, were the result of deaths in police custody, deaths following contact with the police - including two shootings - and people who had been murdered.
Claims that police were instructed to
find information that could discredit the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence have already been investigated.
The latest report has not named which campaigns were the subject of information gathering, but the BBC understands they include:
- Jean Charles de Menezes - shot dead when he was mistaken for a suicide bomber in 2005
- Harry Stanley - mistakenly shot dead by police in 1999
- Ricky Reel - campaigners say police failed to properly investigate his 1997 suspicious death
The report said the majority of campaigns reported on by the SDS "involved black males".
