BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
 

Motorists, protesters and fly tippers could be targeted by unmanned spy drones being developed for UK police forces. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), programmed to capture high resolution images at a distance of 20,000ft, could be in use by Kent and Essex Police as early as 2012. Designed to operate in potentially hazardous environments, the drones have been used by British troops in Afghanistan to monitor enemy action and were originally intended to boost maritime surveillance and border controls. But documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed they will now be used for the “routine” monitoring of anti-social motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly tippers.

The collaboration between Kent and Essex Police and BAE Systems, called the South Coast Partnership, was launched in 2007. Developed by BAE Systems, a prototype drone, equipped with cameras and sensors, is due to take flight this year. Andrew Mellors, Head of Civil Autonomous Systems at BAE Systems, said, “From 2012 fully autonomous unmanned air systems could be routinely used by border agencies, the police and other government bodies.” He told the Police Aviation Conference in 2007, “These systems will be fully autonomous so that operators task the vehicles and receive the relevant imagery and intelligence direct to the ground control station in real time.”

Previously, Kent police have said the drone scheme was intended for use over the English Channel to monitor shipping and detect immigrants crossing from France. However reports suggest their use could be far more widespread, including detecting theft from cash machines, preventing theft of tractors and monitoring antisocial driving. The consortium also suggested the drones could be used by councils to combat 'fly-posting, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, abnormal loads, waste management'. Five other police forces have signed up to the scheme, which could pave the way for countrywide adoption of the technology for surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering. (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jan/10)

Householders could be fined up to £1,000 if they fail to fill in the census forms next year amid fears that millions of people could refuse to take part. A dedicated team of “non-compliance” officers with police powers will be dispatched across the country to crack down on anyone who fails to fill in the forms. This group will have official powers to caution residents and if necessary take them to court for failing to fill in the forms. The census, an official count of the population which takes place every 10 years, is used by local and central Government to determine spending priorities. However there is a growing concern that the next census might be ignored by millions of Britons.

Nick Hurd, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, said, “Labour’s plans for the next Census threaten to destroy public support. It is so intrusive and bloated that I fear many people will simply throw it in the bin or skim over the questions. The Government’s response of hiring an army of census police will alarm law-abiding families and shows how Labour have no concern for civil liberties. Just because Ministers have legal powers to fine people £1,000 for not answering does not mean it’s right for the state to bully householders and threaten to drag them to court. This is yet another sign of the bully boy state that Labour have created and the gradual criminalisation of middle Britain, fining families for the most minor of breaches of state-imposed rules.”

Each 32 page form asks detailed personal questions about families across the country. The forms have to be filled in by the head of the household and take an average of 40 minutes. Rehearsals in some parts of the country for the 2011 count, which took place last October, found that the response rate among volunteers was as low as 21%. In similar trials before the 2001 count, there was a 53% response rate. Ministers have now signalled a new ‘get tough’ approach towards non-compliance. Under the 1920 Census Act, citizens can be be cautioned under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and fined £1,000 for failing to answer questions. However the powers have not been properly enforced previously.

In 2001 just 38 people were fined for not filling in their forms. The Government has now announced that a special “non-compliance unit” will force people to fill in their forms. Those that refuse to will be able to be interviewed under caution using the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, taken to court and fined. Baroness Crawley, a Labour whip, told peers in the House of Lords, “In 2001 it was part of the regular field staff’s responsibility to caution people. This time there will be a dedicated non-compliance staff and prosecutions will be pursued in cases of persistent refusal to respond.”

In theory more than one million people could be caught by the crackdown, although in practice the powers are only likely to be used on people who refuse to fill in the forms. In 2001, the ONS has admitted that it had to "impute" information for 6.1% of households who failed to fill in the forms, more than 1.5million families. Ministers have refused to publish the prosecution guidance for its census staff, insisting that “ONS considers any such guidance to be covered by legal and professional privilege”. One in three forms are not filled in completely, leaving large blanks which are filled in by ONS staff who use an average answer using responses from neighbours.

A spokesman for the ONS said it had been expecting the lower response rate in some areas because they had been chosen to be "quite challenging" compared to others. He said, "Every household in England and Wales is legally required to complete and return a census questionnaire. Inevitably, some will not do so and our field teams will try to persuade them to change their mind and complete the census questionnaire and comply with the Census Act."

He added, "We will have a team working on non-compliance and although householders will be offered many opportunities to complete the questionnaire, for those that continue to refuse to do so legal action may be necessary. If legal action is required then cases would be heard in a magistrates court. The amount of the fine under the Criminal Justice Act is at the discretion of the magistrates, with a current maximum £1,000 fine. Pursuing a prosecution against a person would be very much the last resort at the end of a long process of offering people information and assistance." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jan/10)

Police will be banned from routinely storing the DNA of innocent people in a significant scaling back of state powers. There will also be a dramatic curtailment of the 1,200 powers that currently allow authorities to enter an individual’s home. The measures will join the crackdown on wheel-clampers in Friday’s Protection of Freedoms Bill, along with tighter regulation of CCTV cameras and council snooping. Under controversial laws introduced by Labour, police can indefinitely store the DNA of anybody arrested for a crime, regardless of whether they are ever charged.

As a result, there are an astonishing 1.1million innocent citizens stored on the vast ‘Big Brother-style’ database. The powers have been savaged by civil liberties groups and ruled unlawful by the European courts. Now they will be torn up by the Coalition and replaced by tighter controls. This is already the case in Scotland, where most DNA profiles must be destroyed if the individual is neither charged nor convicted, unless the suspect was arrested for a violent or sexual offence. In those cases, the police can hold the DNA for three years.

Ministers also investigated the number of state powers of entry contained in primary and secondary legislation. They were astonished to discover 1,200 are in existence, more than 400 of which were created by Labour. These include checking for fridges which do not have the correct eco-friendly energy rating; making sure a hedge is not too high; inspecting a property to ensure ‘illegal or unregulated hypnotism’ is not taking place; and checking for the ‘storage of bull’s semen’ on the premises. Many have never been used.

The Home Office will announce an immediate scrapping of some of the powers. Every government department will be told to review the powers it holds, and abolish those which cannot be justified. There will also be tougher restrictions on town halls’ use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which is currently used indiscriminately by many councils to spy on people suspected of minor offences, such as breaches of school catchment area rules or failure to comply with complex regulations governing bins and household waste disposal.

In future, such snooping will be allowed only on those suspected of imprisonable offences, with a magistrate’s approval. It will also be confirmed that Labour’s much-criticised Vetting and Barring Scheme will no longer go ahead. The scheme would have forced an estimated nine million workers to undergo criminal record checks, despite critics claiming this was overly cautious in many cases. Under the Coalition Bill’s proposals, only those in sensitive posts or who have intensive contact with children or vulnerable people will need to be cleared, which is expected to more than halve the number of people affected.

Criminal record checks will be sent directly to individuals to allow them to challenge suspected errors before they are seen by potential employers. The Bill will also include a repeal of Labour’s power to hold terror suspects for 28 days without charge. Police will revert to having a 14-day limit. Controversial anti-terrorism powers that allowed people to be stopped and searched without any reasonable suspicion will also be abolished. (Source: Daily Mail, Feb/11)

<<< Prev