As part of our work, we may need to carry out covert surveillance and other related activities
The Human Rights Act 1998 requires us and agencies working on our behalf to respect the rights of individuals to a private and family life, their home and their correspondence. However, in certain circumstances we may have to interfere with these rights if such interference is:
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provides the mechanism for:
Officers who wish to carry out activities authorised by RIPA are required to have undergone suitable training. An application would need to be made to a trained authorising officer, approved to consider such applications.
Once internal approval has been given, an application must be made to the Magistrates Court for judicial approval before surveillance can be undertaken.
We are inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) over our use of RIPA every three years.
Records of authorisations are kept for five years and then securely destroyed in accordance with Home Office guidance, although we maintain statistical records on the number of authorisations, provided below.
Year | Number of authorisations |
---|---|
2006-07 | 15 |
2007-08 | 2 |
2008-09 | 1 |
2009-10 | 4 |
2010-11 | 0 |
2011-12 | 3 |
2012-13 | 2 |
2013-14 | 0 |
2014-15 | 0 |
2015-16 | 0 |
2016-17 | 0 |
2017-18 | 0 |
No authorisations for covert human intelligence have been granted.