2012 Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner
small number of local authorities (just 7 of the 164 local authorities inspected). Overall the
picture is very positive, with the number of local authorities achieving a good level of compliance
increasing by 12 percentage points, and the number of recommendations emanating from the
local authority inspections reducing by more than 50%.
I am aware that some sections of the media have been very critical of local authorities in the
past and there are allegations that they often use the powers which are conferred upon them
under RIPA inappropriately. No instances of local authorities inappropriately using their powers
(i.e. not for the purpose of preventing and/or detecting crime) were identified during the 2012
inspections. Thousands of applications have been scrutinised since the start of the inspection
regime and therefore the evidence that local authorities are frequently using their powers
inappropriately is just not there.
“Overall the picture is very positive, with the number of local authorities
achieving a good level of compliance increasing by 12 percentage points,
and the number of recommendations emanating from the local authority
inspections reducing by more than 50%”
My inspectors again looked at the use which local authorities had made of the communications
data acquired, as this is a good check that they are using their powers responsibly.They concluded
that effective use was being made of the data to investigate the types of criminal offences which
cause harm to the public, and many of which, if communications data were not available, would
be impossible to investigate and would therefore go unpunished. I would like to highlight some
further examples of how communications data is used by local authorities as this may provide
a better understanding of its importance to the criminal investigations that local authorities
undertake.
Case Study 6 – North Yorkshire Council use of Communications
Data – Operation Violet
This operation commenced in May 2009 when elderly residents in Thirsk, North Yorkshire
complained about gardening work that had been carried out following cold calls by
doorstep traders. The victims had been charged excessive prices for small amounts of
gardening work. The investigation revealed the lengths to which the gang would go to
press the most vulnerable and elderly to pay for work which was rarely undertaken. One
85 year old was pressurised to part with £52,000. Another elderly lady was defrauded out
of more than £23,000. In some cases the gang made repeated visits to victims, extorting
money based on false claims. Communications data was used to link individual members of
the gang to specific offences. Some of the victims had telephone numbers noted on flyers
and in diaries, calendars and address books. Subscriber checks were able to link those
numbers to some of the gang. Outgoing call data proved that the telephones seized from
the defendants had been used to call many of the victims. All of the defendants pleaded
guilty to various offences including conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and theft at
Teesside Crown Court in May and July 2011. The defendants were sentenced to a total of
25 years imprisonment, the longest term being 7 years 8 months.
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