HEREFORDSHIRE Council has used special spying powers – supposed to target terrorists and top criminals – to go after sneaky smokers, benefit scroungers, joy-riders, underage drinkers and illegal taxis. All told, the authority has approved 27 such operations over the past five years, each of which was overseen by its leading lawyer. The revelation came at a recent meeting of the council, when one member questioned the authority’s use of RIPA (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) against the kind of offences its officers are expected to deal with. RIPA became law in 2000, sold by the government as a much-needed national security measure against terrorists and criminals using technology to stay one step ahead. The “small print” allows local authorities to carry out surveillance operations if they suspect criminal activity. But councils across the country have run into trouble using RIPA to crack down on the likes of dog-fouling or cheating over school catchment areas. Councillor Gerald Dawe used the authority’s annual meeting to challenmge the number of times the council had used RIPA and against whom. Councillor June French, cabinet member for corporate services, said the council had used the act 27 times since 2003, with authorisations allowing officers from the resources and environment directorates to investigate “various matters”.

This included benefit fraud, joy-riding in country parks at night, the adherence of retailers to new non-smoking laws and the operation of unlicensed taxis. RIPA powers were also used to catch out stores selling alcohol and tobacco to minors, and at the request of the police who wanted to use council CCTV cameras in their own investigations, said Coun French. Video and still photography made up much of the council’s RIPA surveillance, backed up by officer observations and formal statements, she said. RIPA allows council officers to follow individuals and record what they do, without the use of “recording devices”. Under the act, council officers can also “obtain data” from a phone provider detailing who owns a number and the calls they made, though they cannot look at the content of calls and texts, or intercept post or email. Operationally, RIPA allows a trading standards officer, for instance, to go undercover as a customer to catch out a suspect service. But officers don’t have the power to enter a home or vehicle to carry out surveillance. Herefordshire Council makes its investigators get get a written go-ahead from one of a handful of RIPA-trained senior officers before such an operation can be carried out. Less intrusive evidence-gathering must be exhausted or proven impractical before that go-ahead can be given. The Office of the Surveillance Commissioner oversees all public bodies in their operation of RIPA and conducts periodic spot-audits. Herefordshire Council has received two such audits over the past few years and been praised for the way it operates its procedures, under the supervision of the authority’s legal practice manager.