#publisher Metro » Big Brother is watching: Department for Transport and 27 councils spend £3.9million to snoop on you Comments Feed alternate alternate Metro WordPress.com [tr?id=1522229268091476&ev=PageView&noscript=1] IFRAME: //www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-NX8Q6N This site uses cookies. By continuing, your consent is assumed. Learn more News... but not as you know it 68.3m shares Trending Nutshell * Home * News + UK + World + Weird + Tech * Sport + Football + Oddballs + Club Metro + Transfer news + Viral videos * Entertainment + Showbiz + TV + Film + Music + Gaming + Celebrity Big Brother + Soaps * Lifestyle + Sex + Fashion + Food + Travel * More + Lifestyle + Blogs + Competitions + Jobs + Property * Search Metro * Follow us Big Brother is watching: Department for Transport and 27 councils spend £3.9million to snoop on you Default author image John CorneySunday 17 Mar 2013 11:52 am Public bodies pay £3.9m to snoop on you On the warpath: Communities sectary Eric Pickles says council flouting surveillance laws should face justice (Picture: PA) The Department for Transport (DfT) and 27 councils in England and Wales have paid private investigators to spy on their behalf, new research claims. More than £3.9million was spent by public bodies in two years, according to civil liberties and privacy campaigners Big Brother Watch (BBW). In total 29 organisations – 27 councils, a government department, the DfT, and one public authority – paid private security firms to undertake work using powers under the Regulatory of Investigative Powers Act (Ripa) In recent years, there has been a crakdown on surveillance work by public bodies, who need to obtain a magistrate’s warrant to carry out such investigations. But BBW fears some organisations may be side-stepping those restrictions by sub-contracting surveillance work to private security firms. Using a Freedom of Information request to track public organisation’s use of private security firms between 2010 and 2012, BBW revealed 14 organisations paid for surveillance not covered by Ripa – meaning they potentially commissioned illegal activities. CCTV camera Public bodies are spending millions on ‘spying’ (Picture: PA) The report also revealed four councils – Caerphilly, Dudley, Leicestershire and York – used a private detective to snoop on staff, while most of the £3.9million was used on one contract for Fishery Patrol flights. BBW director Nick Pickles said: ‘This research has uncovered cases where it looks like the law has not been followed. It’s essential these cases are urgently investigated. ‘Unlike the US, British law isn’t strong enough to stop evidence obtained by illegal surveillance being used in court and the punishments for people deliberately flouting the law are trivial. ‘The law is at breaking point and public bodies shouldn’t be able to dodge the legal checks on them by using private investigators,’ he added. The BBW wants Ripa to be reformed to protect against unauthorised surveillance by third parties and make it ‘fit for purpose’. It also wants the licensing system for private investigators to be strengthened and has recommended that the Police and Criminal Evidence Act should be revised to stop unauthorised surveillance being used as evidence in court cases. The government’s communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said councils who have flouted the law should face justice. He added: ‘Such powers can only be used for serious crimes, and require a magistrates’ warrant. It is totally unacceptable if councils are trying to sidestep these important new checks.’ The DfT said it was sometimes necessary to use private investigators to investigate fraud. 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