Who’s watching who?

Today’s Wirral Globe reveals that surveillance powers established to fight terrorism have also been used by Wirral Council 45 times. 

Some councils have used the ‘Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act’ (or RIPA) to mointor littering, taking fairy lights off a Christmas tree or tracking children to see if they live where the parents say they live for the purpose of school admissions.

I’ll be looking into this at the next meeting of the Council’s Corporate Services Committee.

Nationally, Conservatives are committed to a review of RIPA in the way it ties up the police as well.  In too many cases, RIPA forms get in the way of ordinary policing. It should not take 13 hours to fill out the paperwork to authorise officers to watch a known burglar.