RIPA

A little while back I wrote about how many CCTV cameras each council authority had.  It was one of the most interesting ones to write, single because I couldn't believe the disparity between each authority (Pembroke having over a thousand). The thing is, CCTV isn't the only method for looking at what people are up to.  There is another piece of legislation called the Regulator Investigatory Practices Act (RIPA) 2000.  This is one of the most interesting pieces of legislation that you have NEVER heard of. It allows councils to be able to record people for various different situations.

There are RIPA’s critics, and those who are for it.  It has been used for less than honest uses, and as a result it means that it has got something of a bad reputation.  That being said has also been used for good and has been used for things such detecting fly tipping (which is disgusting) and benefit fraud. So why is this important for you?  Don't you want to know how your council monitors you?

RIPA is regulated by the Technical Advisory Board who oversees the applications of RIPA.  MY FoI request has yet to be answered on how many order have been made and how many complaints, but still… So lets have a think about this?  What are the guideline given to local councils when looking to make applications on RIPA? The department of communities and local government have not answered (At time of writing).  The Home Office have produced a guide to local councils on the use of RIPA, which is an interesting read and also shows us what they can and cannot do.

So I asked the Welsh Government and the National Assembly of Wales if they had also sent in RIPA orders.  Again at time of writing, nothing. This also got me thinking, could Welsh Councils have made RIPA orders, as well?  

Now the pay off; the results!

Name	Applied	Rejected	Costs
Blaenau	0	0	0
Bridgend	0	0	0
Caerphilly	7	0	0
Cardiff	0	0	0
Carmarthenshire	3	0	0
Ceredigion	0	0	0
Conway	0	0	0
Denbighshire	1	0	0
Flintshire	0	0	0
Gwynedd	0	0	0
Anglesey	1	0	0
Merthyr Tydfil	Referred To Website
Monmouth	0	0	0
Neath Port Talbot	0	0	0
Newport	0	0	0
Pembroke	0	0	0
Powys	0	0	0
RCT	4	0	0
Swansea
Torfaen	3	0	0
Vale Of Glamorgan
Wrexham	0	0	0

I was a little surprised at this, because I thought that it would be much higher than the numbers here.  This does not tell the whole story, however. The reasons is a number of councils, rather chillingly, said “We have not in this time period” and “Whenever we have applied for one, they have never been rejected”.  That being said a number of them said “We have never applied for a RIPA order”.  

The next question is, why have they applied for these order for...

Additional - The Welsh Government have taken one RIPA order