[Infowarrior] - Council uses terror law to spy on shirker in shower

[Richard Forno]

Council uses terror law to spy on shirker in shower
Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6350362.ece

A LOCAL council has used surveillance powers designed to catch  
terrorists and prevent serious crime to check how long a member of  
staff spent in the shower.

Burnley borough council invoked laws set up to safeguard national  
security to mount a covert operation against one of its own officials  
because it suspected he was using a gym during office hours.

Internal council papers, obtained under the Freedom of Information  
Act, revealed that the council decided to mount a “direct  
surveillance” operation against the official.

Its purpose was “to see if [the] council employee is using gym/showers  
whilst clocked in”.

Rather than interview the official or monitor his attendance overtly,  
the council deployed human operatives to spy on his movements,  
including in the changing room. Hidden cameras were not installed.

The surveillance was authorised for three months, after which the  
council concluded the employee had carried out “personal activities”  
while at work and had defrauded the council.

The operation required authorisation from senior council officials  
under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa).

The act, introduced in 2000, was said by government ministers to be  
necessary to combat terrorism. Critics warned that its wide powers  
could easily be abused.

Last week Burnley council refused to comment on the case. But the  
snooping operation was condemned by the Conservatives as a ridiculous  
misuse of powers.

Bob Neill, shadow local government minister, said: “It is absurd that  
powers meant to foil serious crimes are being used to watch people in  
the shower. It is wrong for taxpayers’ money to be used by an army of  
town hall spies to act out their James Bond fantasies.”

A survey last year found that some local authorities had used Ripa to  
spy on suspected litter louts or people whose dogs fouled the pavement  
and to check whether a family really did live in a school catchment  
area.

Yesterday Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, the civil rights  
organisation, called for an immediate overhaul of the laws to stop  
councils behaving like “peeping Toms”.

“These powers were intended to combat serious crime and terrorism, not  
to monitor the cleanliness of council employees,” she said.

The government is to review Ripa, including its use by local  
authorities.