Apr 2008 11

Poole Council spies on a family for three weeks10

BigbrotherIn May I will have been at the TPA for a year.  In that year, I have not seen anything as disgraceful as in today’s Daily Mail.  Poole Council used legislation, written and sold to us on the idea it would help track terrorists, to spy on a family they suspected of living outside a school catchment area. 

The Regulation of Investigative Powers Act 2000 was introduced on the grounds that it would boost national security.  Poole Council, being a creative sort, went well over their remit by using the powers to snoop on families.  They monitored this unnamed family for three weeks, with intentions to stop them sending their children to a good school if they lived outside the catchment area. 

In an almost comical scene, the Mail describes how council officers wrote reports as if they were in a cheap Spooks rip-off.  On your buck, council hatchetmen kept detailed notes, going as far as to record when the lights were on in the family home.  To add insult to injury, we don’t even know how long Poole Council will keep the family’s information and what they will use it for. 

This time it was Poole Council spying on people to see they send their children to the ‘right’ school.  What will they use it on next?  But clearly this is a worrying trend.  East Hampshire Council announced this week they will be phoning people who leave ‘too much’ rubbish outside to ask them why, what are they throwing away, etc.  Basildon Council sent bureaucrats up and down streets to go through people’s rubbish to see if any recyclable goods were being thrown away.  Inch by inch these Town Hall bureaucrats are invading our private lives – and we’re paying for it year after year in ever-increasing Council Tax. 

Someone has to carry the can for this gross invasion of privacy.  Please contact Poole’s Councillors to ask them to investigate this obscene breach of privacy.  Here are the contact details:

Cllr Peter Adams – [email protected]
Cllr Jeff Allen – [email protected]
Cllr Elaine Atkinson – [email protected]
Cllr Michael Brooke – [email protected]
Cllr David Brown – [email protected]
Cllr Chris Bulteel – [email protected]
Cllr Les Buden – [email protected]
Cllr Judy Butt – [email protected]
Cllr Graham Chandler – [email protected]
Cllr Brian Clements – [email protected]
Cllr Donald Collier – [email protected]
Cllr Graham Curtis – [email protected]
Cllr Carole Deas – [email protected]
Cllr Xena Dion – [email protected]
Cllr Philip Eades – [email protected]
Cllr Carol Evans – [email protected]
Cllr David Gillard – [email protected]
Cllr Roger Gregory – [email protected]
Cllr May Haines – [email protected]
Cllr Joyce Lavender – [email protected]
Cllr Brian Leverett – [email protected]
Cllr Daphne Long – [email protected]
Cllr Peter Maiden – [email protected]
Cllr Daniel Martin – [email protected]
Cllr Graham Mason – [email protected]
Cllr Christopher Matthews – [email protected]
Cllr Charles Meachin – [email protected]
Cllr Guy Montrose – [email protected]
Cllr Sandra Moore – [email protected]
Cllr Ron Parker – [email protected]
Cllr Michael Plummer – [email protected]
Cllr John Rampton – [email protected]
Cllr Neil Sorton – [email protected]
Cllr Ann Stribley – [email protected]
Cllr Tony Trent – [email protected]
Cllr Janet Walton – [email protected]
Cllr Mike White – [email protected]
Cllr Michael Wilkins – [email protected]
Cllr Graham Wilson – [email protected]
Cllr Lindsay Wilson – [email protected]
Cllr Tony Woodcock – [email protected]

Do please contact these councillors and ask them who is responsible for issuing the orders that sent council bureaucrats to spy on people.  Ask them how many times since 2000 the RIPA has been used to spy on people.  It’s also worthwhile that you ask your council whether they have been spying on you like Poole Council has. 

Finally, as a philosophical note, this debacle reminded me of this famous quote from Proudhon:

“"To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality."
- P. J. Proudhon, General Idea of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

I’m starting to think he had a point…

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  • Steve Robson

    So as well as tax evaders, the TPA support people who lie to get school places at the expense of others. Are there any criminals you don’t campaign for?

  • Chris Packham

    In reply to Steve Robson; the point is not whether or not people who lie to get schools places should be stopped from benefiting.
    The point is that the use of extremely invasive legislation more suited to Anti-Terrorism/National Security/Serious Organised Crime, was utterly inappropriate. The surveillance this family was placed under was surely more appropriate to those committing a serious criminal offence. It should not be abused in this manner. Other, more appropriate investigations could have been carried out. The Council could have written to the couple laying out the concerns and requesting proof of residence & occupation. The fact that this surveillance appears to have been carried out after the house move deadline that the Council themselves suggested, makes this all the more appalling.
    Also as an aside, are we now reaching the stage in this country that we think trying to get your children into the best school you can is a criminal offence? If so, what is the point of living here and not China/North Korea/Cuba.

  • Graeme Pirie

    Steve Robson – you missed the fact that the couple were completely innocent. But even so isn’t the real crime the state of education in this country?
    Would YOU be happy to have people that are supposed to be working for you following you round and snooping on your private life?
    Are YOU happy that your council tax has gone up to pay for activities like this?

  • Christian Braun

    I am in shock about the abuse of powers in this case and think that it is very important that we check and hear which other councils are up to similar shenanigans.
    I have emailed all the Poole councilors (by the way the list of emails in the post was very useful, it pasted into an Outlook form and made sending the emails very easy) and will do the same tomorrow to my own council.
    The TPA should consider a simple email form and a up to date list of politicians up and down the country as part of the site allowing large numbers of members go get active in cases like this.

  • Christian Braun

    Here my first response:
    DEAR CHRISTIAN
    UNFORTUNATELY OUR TORY CONTROLLED COUNCIL ENGAGE IN THIS KIND OF ACTIVITY.
    WE LIB DEM COUNCILLORS ARE APPALLED AT THE USE OF THIS ‘SLEDGE HAMMER TO CRACK A NUT’ APPROACH
    WE ARE TRYING TO GET AN EMERGENCY DEBATE,TO FIND OUT WHY THIS EXTREME MEASURE WAS AUTHORISED, AND MAKE SURE THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.
    YOURS AYE
    CHARLES
    C K MEACHIN
    COUNCILLOR
    ALDERNEY WARD
    Good on you, Councillor Meachin. As a tory myself I am disappointed to see that this was not as expected a Labour Council. The view that government knows better seems to permeate through all major parties.

  • Christian Braun

    Councillor Mike White replied with Poole’s formal Press Release that I insert below. As it appears the RIPA powers were used three times last year.
    STATEMENT: SCHOOL ADMISSIONS PROCESS
    The Government’s Code of Practice on School Admissions states clearly that offers of school places can be withdrawn if fraudulent applications are made. It is on this basis, that on very rare occasions, the Council has chosen to undertake observations where concerns persist about the validity of the application.
    In doing this, the Council abides by the RIPA requirements in order to protect the interests of all parties.
    The admission process begins with the submission of an application for a school place. The application form clearly states the provision of incorrect information could lead to the removal of the offer of a place.
    Following the allocation of a school place, enquiries are only made if evidence comes forward placing the validity of the application into doubt. This usually entails other parents coming forward to express their concerns.
    If the Council has reasons to believe an application for a school place may have been made fraudulently, it will invite the applicant to provide proof of residence such as utility bills or driving licences. Normally this resolves the matter. However, if the Council has further concerns, observations may be authorised to verify the accuracy of the application.
    When an observation is authorised, an officer trained in RIPA procedures will attempt to establish if the family leave their stated address in the morning and return to it in the evening.
    Following this stage, parents are invited to discuss the investigation with a member of the Council’s school admissions team. At their request, they are also given a report providing full details of the observations. They are again invited to provide more evidence if it is felt necessary in assessing the application
    In two of the three cases during the financial year 2007/08 the offer of a place was withdrawn. Following the completion of the process all records of the observations are destroyed.
    The advice of the Council’s Legal and Democratic Services is that giving false information on an application form is a fraudulent act. Officers have operated within the requirements of the Act and this has been appropriately monitored and recorded and is subject to review by the Office of the Surveillance Commissioner.
    The Council believes this action is taken to ensure that the admissions process is fair to all those parents who have followed the rules in applying for school places.
    John Nash
    Strategic Director for Children’s Services
    Borough of Poole
    Contact: Ian Turner, Media Relations Officer, Borough of Poole, tel: 01202 633295 or email [email protected]

  • Mike Hewitson

    Unfortunately privacy is in serious danger of being totally and utterly destroyed in the UK. We are the most watched nation on the planet, with more CCTV cameras than any other country. Initially they were marketed as reducing antisocial behaviour, and to help improve convictions for crimes such as assaults in city centres when the pub kicks out. Now, we see the ever increasing expansion of this insidious network of to catch motorists who litter.
    Before I am accused of being pro-litter, I am not, I believe that we are all citizens of this country and that we should do our utmost to perform our civic responsibilities at all times. However when you start to treat the population as criminals, this is the sort of behaviour that you will breed. Is the throwing from cars of litter a major source of litter? Or is this yet another attempt by a cynical Government of extracting yet more money from the populous by way of fines?
    The culture of bureaucrats having the power to pry into the private lives of citizens is a betrayal of the covenant between Government and the citizen. Benjamin Franklin once wrote:
    “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
    The loss of freedom or privacy are to me, not prices that I am prepared to pay in order to catch people who park on double-yellows, or who throw litter from their vehicle. I sincerely hope that one of our political parties will take a stand on this issue, there is no greater threat to the nation than turning the machinery of the state against its people, which is the inevitable outcome when everything we do is watched and scrutinised.

  • Christian Braun

    I have now received a message from Tim Martin, Head of Legal and Democratic Services at Poole Council. He states that the Council has used RIPA surveillance on 39 occasions since 2000. This relates to investigation of a number of potential issues, not just school admissions.
    Maybe TPA can make a FoIA request for more information on what these cases were?

  • Nick

    Perhaps Mr Martin would like to let us know how much of our money was spent on these 39 surveillance operations.

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