Issue - meetings
Covert investigation under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
Meeting: 14/07/2015 - Standards Advisory Committee (Item 6)
6 Annual Report of Investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) PDF 107 KB
Consider and comment upon the information provided in the report.
Minutes:
Meic Sullivan-Gould (Interim Monitoring Officer) introduced and highlighted key points in the report, which outlined the Council’s use of covert investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”).
Meic Sullivan-Gould explained that there were circumstances in the discharge
of its statutory functions in which it was necessary for the Council to conduct
directed surveillance or use a covert human intelligence source for the
purpose of preventing crime or disorder.
The RIPA Act was intended to provide a framework within which a public
authority may use covert investigation for the purpose of preventing or
detecting crime or of preventing disorder. It was designed to ensure that public authorities did not contravene the obligation in Section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 not to act in a way which was incompatible with an individual’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). It was particularly concerned to prevent contravention of the qualified right in Article 8 of the ECHR to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.
It was noted that the Council’s current priorities for the use to RIPA were:
· Anti-social behaviour
· Fly-tipping
· Unlawful street vending of DVDs and tobacco
· Underage sales of knives, tobacco, alcohol and fireworks
· Fraud, including misuse of disabled parking badges and claims for housing benefit
· Illegal money-lending and related offending
· Breach of licences
· Touting.
Meic Sullivan-Gould outlined an internal investigation in 2014/15 given by the Head of Internal Audit on 10 November 2014. This was confirmed by a District Judge at the Thames Magistrates’ Court on 11 November 2014. The surveillance was conducted from 14 November 2014 to 2 December 2014. The authorisation was formally cancelled on 18 December 2014, as surveillance had concluded after sufficient evidence was obtained. Relevant surveillance material was provided to the Metropolitan Police to assist in the investigation. As a result of the investigation, appropriate internal action was being undertaken under the Council’s procedures.
The Committee noted that there was a consistent use of low levels of RIPA by the Council and the following were highlighted:
· 1 authorisation granted in 2014/2015;
· 2 authorisations were granted in 2013/2014;
· 2 authorisations were granted in 2012/2013 and
· 3 authorisations were granted in in 2011/2012.
Previous investigations had targeted touting and the investigation of underage sales of tobacco, however there were no such investigations with the use of RIPA in 2014/2015. It was noted that the Council had used the resources of the police and their statutory powers, more use of overt uniformed enforcement officers dealing with a wider range of offences and more combined partnership working with the police to tackle both issues during 14/15.
RESOLVED –
That the report be noted.