Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - March 2015
Figure 2 Warrants Issued by Statutory Purpose
serious
crime
68%
national
security
31%
combination 1%
authorised for more than one statutory purpose. The vast majority of the serious crime
warrants fell into one of the following five categories: unlawful supply of controlled drugs;
firearms and violence; robbery and theft; financial crime; or smuggling / trafficking.
Inspection Regime
6.46 Objectives of Inspections. My office’s interception inspections are structured to
scrutinise the key areas covered by Chapter I of Part I RIPA 2000 and the associated code
of practice. A typical inspection of an interception agency will include the following:
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•
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a review of the action points or recommendations from the previous inspection
and their implementation;
an evaluation of the systems in place for the interception of communications
to ensure they are sufficient for the purposes of Part I Chapter I of RIPA 2000
and that all relevant records have been kept;
examination of selected interception applications to assess whether they
were necessary in the first instance and then whether the requests met the
necessity and proportionality requirements;
interviews with case officers, analysts and/or linguists from selected
investigations or operations to assess whether the interception and the
justifications for acquiring all of the material were proportionate;
examination of any urgent oral approvals to check the process was justified
and used appropriately;
a review of those cases where communications subject to legal privilege or
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