Abuse of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

An interesting report on the BBC website on the use and abuse of RIPA.  It would appear that local councils are always ready to use RIPA to keep an eye on their citizens.

Figures obtained by BBC Radio Lincolnshire show that local councils have used covert surveillance authorisations 217 times in the last three years.

These allow suspects to be observed and cameras to be placed at crime hotspots.

So, what are the serious crimes and terrorist activity that our local public servants are so exercised about that they consider them appropriate for the application of RIPA?

Wayne Lambert from West Lindsey District Council, which has used RIPA authorisations 53 times in the last three years, said they used the legislation with great caution.

"We will use our powers proportionately. If there is something that can have a big negative impact on the community like commercial fly-tipping we think in a situation like that it is justified that we can put a camera in a remote proximity to try to get those people who are doing that crime and catch them and bring them to book."

Overall, local authorities in Lincolnshire alone used RIPA powers 217 times over the last three years.