Council uses anti-terror laws 150 times to trap fraudsters
ANTI-TERROR laws have been used by council spies almost 150 times over the last three years to trap fraudsters, rogue taxi drivers and benefit cheats.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council applied for permission to use surveillance techniques 147 times between 2007 and last year.
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Ben Adams
And figures revealed under Freedom of Information laws show the authority had applied to use the tactics, normally used by police and intelligence services, eight times between January and July.
The applications were made under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which was introduced in 2000 with the aim of regulating how public bodies carried out surveillance and the interceptions of communications.
But the legislation quickly became known as a 'snooper's charter' as it emerged the law was being used by public bodies to tackle issues such as fly-tipping and dog fouling.
Earlier this month, the Home Office announced it was to examine the way local authorities were using RIPA.
The council has used surveillance, telephone traces and undercover investigations to, among other examples, catch shops selling alcohol or fireworks to underage youths.
Martin Brindley, head of the council's regulatory services, said: "If we have reports of someone selling counterfeit pottery, we send an officer to buy an item, but also to have a conversation to find out more about what they are doing.
"Where we think taxi drivers are overcharging we can have officers posing as customers to find out."
The figures show the council applied for permission to use surveillance techniques 37 times in 2007, 49 times in 2008 and 36 times in 2009.
The authority used communications, which generally means asking telephone companies to trace a number, eight times in 2007, 13 times in 2008, four times in 2009, and once up to July 2010.
The council said its number of RIPA applications was due to Trading Standards investigations.
In comparison, Staffordshire County Council made eight RIPA applications in 2007, five in 2008 and three in 2009.
Surveillance powers were used to investigate counterfeit goods, allegations of animals being kept in poor health, fraud and illegal disposal of industrial waste.
The one application made this year has been to investigate loan sharks.
County Councillor Ben Adams, pictured, said: "These are not petty matters – they are real crimes. We always ensure our use of RIPA is appropriate.
"RIPA is often described as 'anti-terror legislation' but this is misleading."
Newcastle Borough Council made 15 applications in 2007/08, 21 in 2008/09 and two in 2009/10.
A spokesman said: "The council's powers under RIPA are only used as a last resort."
Taxi driver Steve Eden, chairman of Newcastle Private Hire Association, said: "I think the council are wasting their time."
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7 Comments
by Ignorant Moron, Over Yonder
Wednesday, September 01 2010, 11:39PM
“Nyet Comrade,
Welcome to Communist Staffordshire.
Should Civic Centre be renamed Politbureau?”
by anon, stoke-on-trent
Wednesday, September 01 2010, 7:47AM
“They are not the only employer to do that, alot have, I could tell & colleagues have said to me, these know everything I say. I know like others its been going on for decades I am one that has been watched. A sad bunch the lot.”
by Adam Colclough, Penkhull
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 8:05PM
“I have no problem with the council using these powers to catch rogue traders or shopkeepers who sell drink to children; it¿s what we expect them to do as part of keeping us safe.
The scale on which these powers have been used though is cause for concern. Did the council have a genuine reason for using them in every case? Somehow I doubt it. Does the ease with which their use is sanctioned leave the system open to abuse? You bet it does.
I wouldn¿t want to tie the council¿s hands when it comes to protecting local people from being ripped off, but they must recognise that along with the powers they have been granted under RIPA comes a requirement to use them responsibly and with moderation.”
by Know it all, Stoke
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 5:12PM
“Are they using these powers to investigate themselves....I bet they aren't.”
by Lazarus, North Staffs
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 3:00PM
“They were doing this way before the date they say the RIPA laws were enacted in fact I personally was monitored by them on CCTV at work by these scr*tes in 1999 and 2000, and followed around the City by a PRIVATE security firm employed by the the Leisure Department, only the person in charge paid for that little episode out of his own pocket and after with his livilihood, pity it was`nt his manhood. However, the same scr*tes are still there and no doubt for their own ends they will still be doing this in fact this very paper reported the facts of the CCTV observations in 2000, nothing new in this tale here apart from the fact that Central Government legitamised the surveillance.
Phone tapping at the Civic Centre is a daily occurrence and has been since the late eighties on its own staff. The sysytem installed lends itself to that procedure, I have witnessed on several occassions where verbatim telephone conversations have been used against staff, some of a highly personal nature and on all occassions they were used in a crude form of malicious blackmail in order to coerce staff, weird place Stoke Civic Centre, paranoid management holding on too positions of authority using subterfuge and good old bullying tactics, bless em..........”
by Saffron, The Villas
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 12:36PM
“It's not just members of the public being snooped upon, but their own staff too. I'm aware of pretty lowly council staff who should NOT have access to live CCTV monitors routinely using them to snoop on other employees. Usually for no other reason than to be nosey, or give themselves a power trip.”
by Kevin, Newcastle
Tuesday, August 31 2010, 10:25AM
“I spy with my little eye something beginning with C. Con artists”