East Lancs councils defend 'snooping' powers

10:48am Tuesday 24th June 2008

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EAST Lancashire councils have defended their use of "snooping" policies after calls were made for a crackdown on how surveillance is used.

The Local Government Association yesterday wrote to every council in England stating that surveillance powers granted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) should never be used for trivial matters such as littering or dog fouling.

They allow the authority to monitor phone records and record people on video and, are intended to be used to convict criminals and prevent serious crime.

But in East Lancashire council officers have secretly recorded dog-walkers to crack down on dog fouling and hid outside the town hall to check staff aren't sneaking out of work early.

Chairman of the Local Government Association, Sir Simon Milton said in his letter to the council officials: "My purpose in writing is to ask that you satisfy yourself that the use of these powers is only being authorised after the most careful consideration at the appropriate senior political and mana-gerial level."

But Linda Comstive, the director of legal services for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We have very strict guidelines in place and only use it very sparingly and only when it is justified.

"For example, we have used it to detect benefit fraud and rogue traders.

"We were inspected by the Office of the Surveillance Commissioner last week and he has praised our approach".

Mick Cartledge, Burnley Council's Director of Comm-unity Services, said: "Burnley Council will look at these comments; however, we do try as much as possible to have a commonsense approach to CCTV." "

Ribble Valley Borough Council's director of resources, Marshal Scott, added: "We take these matters seriously and recently discussed our surveillance powers with the Information Commissioner's Office.

"We intend looking at our policy on the use of surveillance, with a view to changing it if necessary."

The Freedom of Information Act request found that Blackburn with Darwen Council used the powers 24 times in 2007/08, Burnley made 30 applications and Hyndburn Council used the powers 189 times since 2001.

Pendle Council, Rossendale Council and Hyndburn Council did not respond before the Lancashire Telegraph went to press.