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CROYDON: Terror laws used to fight petty crime
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| Liberty's director Shami Chakrabarti has criticised the use of terror laws to fight petty crime |
Croydon Council has come under attack from a civil liberties group for using controversial anti-terrorism legislation to fight petty-crime.
The council told the Croydon Guardian it had used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) six times in the past 12-months for tracking rogue traders, fly-tippers and counterfeiters.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "You don't use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, nor targeted surveillance to stop a litter bug.
"You can care about serious crime and terrorism without throwing away our personal privacy with a snoopers' charter.
"The law must be reformed to require sign-off by judges not self authorisation by over-zealous bureaucrats."
A town hall spokesman said: "RIPA was not specifically designed to allow covert surveillance of suspected terrorists and gangsters.
"It does not give the council or anyone else new powers to carry out surveillance. It simply controls how a wide range of public bodies, including councils, actually carry out what they have been doing for a number of years."
The council said this had involved surveillance to combat and prevent the sale of certain goods like alcohol, solvents, cigarettes and spray paints to under age people and the sale of pirate or counterfeit goods to the public.
The authority claims that by using the act to gain information on people who may be breaking the law, it is protecting the interests of law-abiding residents. The use of RIPA, it claims, "should be reassuring to parents and consumers in Croydon."
The spokesman went on to say: "We are committed to looking after the interests of local people and will use whatever appropriate powers exist to catch rogue traders, doorstep criminals and scam artists who cheat the taxpayer and prey on the young, the vulnerable and elderly."
8:04am Tuesday 20th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: dave, london on 11:41am Tue 20 May 08
RIPA is the pre-curser to big brother... and it went through parliament without a squeak of opposition.
RIPA is the pre-curser to big brother... and it went through parliament without a squeak of opposition.
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