3.14 Law enforcement agencies comprise Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;
the Serious Organised Crime Agency; the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement
Agency; United Kingdom Border Agency; and the Child Exploitation & Online
Protection Centre.
3.15 All of the above mentioned public authorities, with the exception of the Civil
Nuclear Constabulary, Port of Dover Police and the Child Exploitation & Online
Protection Centre have now been inspected at least twice since the Inspectorate
was formed about three years ago. The first inspections of the Civil Nuclear
Constabulary and the Port of Dover Police took place about two years ago but
since then only the latter has made one application for subscriber information and
therefore there has been no requirement to conduct a second inspection.
3.16 The Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre which operates under
the auspices of the Serious Organised Crime Agency was formed in 2006 and it
is dedicated to eradicating the sexual abuse of children. It was inspected for the
first time in August last year and clearly communications data plays a key role in
helping the Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre work in partnership
with local and international forces and Internet Service Providers (ISP) to make
the Internet a safer place for our children and young people to use. For example,
information from the operator of a social networking site indicated that a 13 year
old girl appeared to be in a suicidal state. Prompt action by the Child Exploitation
& Online Protection Centre enabled this young person to be identified through the
acquisition of communications data before she attempted to take her own life.
3.17 In 2008 my team of Inspectors conducted 33 inspections of police forces
and law enforcement agencies in order to complete phase 2 of the inspection
programme on schedule. The areas covered by these inspections are fairly wide
ranging and therefore the Inspectors work in pairs because experience shows this
is more efficient and effective. Later in this section of this report I intend to give
more insight into how the inspections are conducted because I believe this will
give the necessary reassurance that relevant public authorities are held accountable
for the way in which they exercise their powers to acquire communications data.
3.18 Generally the outcomes of the inspections were satisfactory and the
Inspectors concluded communications data is being obtained lawfully and for
a correct statutory purpose. One of the first aims of the inspection is to check
that the recommendations or action points from the previous inspection have
been implemented and this proved to be so in the vast majority of cases. As a
consequence the overwhelming number of police forces and law enforcement
agencies are sustaining a good level of compliance with the Act and Code of
Practice. However, it came to my notice that one or two police forces had been
slow to respond to the findings from the previous inspection reports and therefore
I sought assurances from the Chief Constables concerned that speedy action would be
taken to make the necessary improvements. Work is ongoing to achieve that end.
3.19 I am pleased to report a considerable number of police forces and law
enforcement agencies are continuing to invest in automated systems for the purpose
of managing their requirements for communications data. They will help to reduce
the scope for errors as generally the subject telephone number or communications
address only has to be entered once and then it populates itself throughout the
remainder of the process. In three of the inspections, however, we found minor
breaches of the Act and Code of Practice were occurring, either because of design
faults or because the software had been modified inappropriately after it had been
installed. In effect this meant that some of the data was not obtained fully in
accordance with the law, and relevant staff in the public authorities concerned
have been advised that they have a duty under the Criminal Procedure and
Investigations Act 1996 to bring this to the attention of the prosecutor who will
decide whether it could have an adverse effect on any criminal proceedings which
are pending. In my view this is improbable because the Inspectors were satisfied
that it was still necessary and proportionate to acquire the data and moreover it
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