18
MALONE v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT
(b) a copy of the warrant issued or a note of rejection of the application;
(c) the dates of any renewals of the warrant;
(d) a note of any other decisions concerning the warrant;
(e) the date of cancellation of the warrant (White Paper, para. 14).
49. On the issue of a warrant, the interception is effected by the Post
Office. Telephone interceptions are carried out by a small staff of Post
Office employees who record the conversation but do not themselves listen
to it except from time to time to ensure that the apparatus is working
correctly. In the case of postal communications, the Post Office makes a
copy of the correspondence. As regards the interception of communications
for the purpose of the detection of crime, in practice the "designated person
holding office under the Crown" to whom the Post Office is required by
sub-section 80 of the Post Office Act 1969 to transmit the intercepted
information (see paragraph 29 above) is invariably the Commissioner of
Police of the Metropolis. The product of the interception - that is, the copy
of the correspondence or the tape-recording - is made available to a special
unit of the Metropolitan Police who note or transcribe only such parts of the
correspondence or the telephone conversation as are relevant to the
investigation. When the documentary record has been made, the tape is
returned to the Post Office staff, who erase the recording. The tape is
subsequently re-used. The majority of recordings are erased within one
week of their being taken (Birkett report, paras. 115-117; White Paper, para.
15).
50. A Consolidated Circular to Police, issued by the Home Office in
1977, contained the following paragraphs in a section headed "Supply of
information by Post Office to police":
"1.67 Head Postmasters and Telephone Managers have been given authority to
assist the police as indicated in paragraph 1.68 below without reference to Post Office
Headquarters, in circumstances where the police are seeking information
(a) in the interests of justice in the investigation of a serious indictable offence; or
(b) when they are acting in a case on the instructions of the Director of Public
Prosecutions; or
(c) when a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the offender, or the offence is
such that he can be arrested without a warrant; or
...
1.68 Head Postmasters, or (in matters affecting the telecommunication service)
Telephone Managers, may afford the following facilities in response to a request made
by the officer locally in charge of the force at the town where the Head Postmaster is
stationed
...