Who's Watching You?

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"Snoopers' charter" used 50 times in H&F

Hammersmith and Fulham Council have used controversial surveillance legislation 50 times over the past five years to monitor local residents and their own staff, according to a recent survey carried out by the Liberal Democrats.

The LibDems sent Freedom of Information requests to all local authorities in England and Wales in a bid to find out how the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) – which allows councils to carry out surveillance if they suspect criminal activity – was being used.

H&F was one of 182 councils out of 475 which gave a full or near-full response. The data shows that from 2004 to 2008, H&F made use of RIPA legislation to monitor 11 suspected cases of benefit fraud, 14 suspected cases of anti-social behaviour, 1 suspected case of theft, 2 suspected cases of fly-tipping, 1 suspected case of graffiti/criminal damage, 8 suspected trading standards offences, 1 suspected misuse of a disabled parking permit, 1 suspected breach of the Food Safety Act, 7 suspected breaches of the Licensing Act, and 4 employees suspected of fraudulent activities.

It is unclear how many prosecutions, if any, resulted from the surveillance in Hammersmith and Fulham but the LibDems say that overall, only 9 percent of the roughly 10,000 authorisations nationwide have led to a successful prosecution, caution or fixed-penalty notice.

While councils see RIPA as a useful tool, the legislation has been dubbed a 'snoopers' charter' by those who believe it is being over-used and misused. The LibDem survey shows that in some cases, councils have monitored residents for trespassing, road traffic offences, littering, taxi overcharging, “contravention of a temporary stop notice” and “to establish the identities of those taking fairy lights from a Christmas tree”.

“When the controversial legislation was first brought in, it was intended to empower primarily the police and security services. However many councils including H&F Council and their senior management have used the discretionary powers given to them to snoop on their own residents. This just goes to show how little regard they have for our civil rights and liberties,” said Merlene Emerson, the LibDem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hammersmith.

In total, 11 members of staff at Hammersmith and Fulham Council – all senior management - are authorised to use RIPA. The legislation has been used 27 times since the Conservatives came to power in the borough in May 2006. The remaining 23 occurrences took place under the previous, Labour administration.

A Council spokesman said: "We make no apology for using RIPA surveillance to investigate those people who are suspected of breaking the law or defrauding the council. We shall continue to use this important tool in order to drive down crime in the borough and we have safeguards in place to ensure that it is used appropriately and proportionately."

In a controversial case last year, Poole Borough Council admitted putting a couple and their three children under surveillance for more than two weeks without their knowledge. The council said it wanted to find out if the family lived in the catchment area for a school they wanted to send one of their children to.

RIPA gives local authorities extensive powers and the Home Office website says the legislation can be used for “the interception of communications (for instance, the content of telephone calls, e-mails or postal letters)”, “the carrying out of covert surveillance”, and “access to electronic data protected by encryption or passwords”.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to ensure that these powers are only used where strictly necessary. The Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said: "When RIPA was passed, only nine organisations, including the police and security services, were allowed to use it. Now a total of 795 bodies, including all 475 local authorities, can use powers that were originally designed to prevent terrorism.

"Unless RIPA is reformed it risks becoming a snoopers' charter. Surveillance powers should only be used to investigate serious crimes and must require a magistrate's warrant," she said.

However, the Liberal Democrats' survey shows that some LibDem councils have also made extensive use of RIPA over the past five years: Derby 66 times, Northumberland 68 times, Stockport 68 times, York 69 times, Rochdale 99 times and Oldham 185 times.

Yasmine Estaphanos

April 28, 2009