CHAPTER 9: LAW ENFORCEMENT
to the assessed benefits”.8 That statement echoed the conclusions of seven previous
reviews since 1993, and is accepted by law enforcement.
9.18.
This important limitation (which it is not within my remit to revisit) places a premium
on obtaining content by other means: e.g. by interrogating devices and by applications
to a court for stored communications. The content of communications taken from a
computer or phone may be and commonly is deployed in evidence, as indeed foreign
intercept may be. The Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] point out that the bar on the
use of intercepted material places further emphasis on the use of communications
data to secure convictions.9
Utility of interception
9.19.
The relative impact of interception is probably in decline, as communications data
become more abundant, criminals become more security-aware and communications
migrate to internet-based apps, managed by providers in other countries in which
interception by UK authorities may not be a realistic option. Interception is therefore
used only in the most serious cases. I return to the subject of authorisation at 9.90
below.
9.20.
But interception can still be of vital importance for intelligence, for disruption, and for
the detection and investigation of crime. Some examples are given at Annex 8 to this
Report. Interception warrants are issued to assist in dealing with serious crime at an
average rate of about five a day. The lead in developing and maintaining interception
capability is with NTAC, part of GCHQ, with whose concerns I deal in Chapter 10
below.
Utility of communications data
9.21.
The great majority of communications data use is for the prevention or detection of
crime, or the prevention of disorder.10 Other than national security, the next most used
statutory purpose is the emergency prevention of death or injury, for example in the
case of a kidnap or missing person.
9.22.
The significance of messaging and social media in terrorism prosecutions is immense.
The CPS reviewed a snapshot of recent prosecutions for terrorist offences and
concluded that in 26 recent cases, of which 17 have concluded with a conviction, 23
could not have been pursued without communications data and in 11 cases the
conviction depended on that data.11
9.23.
Securing reliable access to communications data was also described to me as a
necessary part of the fight against online crime (including child sexual exploitation and
fraud) and a staple of investigations into serious and organised crime. I was told that
communications data was “an essential tool in investigating even the minor volume
8
9
10
11
Intercept as Evidence: Written Statement (James Brokenshire MP, 17 December 2014, HCWS124).
Evidence to the Review, April 2015.
78.5%, as against 15% for national security, 6% for the emergency prevention of death or injury and
0.5% for others (including tax, public health and investigating miscarriages of justice) IOCC Report
(April 2014), Figure 8.
Evidence to the Review dated 1 October 2014.
169