Carmarthenshire Council wins praise
Carmarthenshire County Council has been praised for the reasonable way it uses powers to investigate people suspected of committing crimes.
A Home Office Inspector visited the county council this week to look at its approach to using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).
The Act was introduced in 2000 to regulate the way in which public authorities such as the police and local authorities use covert investigation techniques to catch offenders.
They can be a vital way of gathering information for a range of important purposes, for example to protect public health (if someone is dumping hazardous waste illegally), to protect young people from harm (if someone sells alcohol to children), to prevent fraud (if someone is falsely claiming disability benefits) or to assess or collect taxes or other statutory charges.
Carmarthenshire County Council has only used the powers 55 times since 2005, in response to tens of thousands of service requests over the same time period and for a range of issues including surveillance of anti social tenants, benefit fraudsters, traders involved in under age sales, and unfair trading practices like cold calling. It has had the most success in the surveillance of illegal dumping of controlled waste, and surveillance of public car parking where anti social behaviour takes place.
Carmarthenshire head of public protection Philip Davies said: “The county council has only used these powers on a small number of occasions. We use it to detect crime, improve community safety and to protect the environment.
“We have had a RIPA Inspector here this week and the initial feedback is that the Inspector is very complimentary about how Carmarthenshire uses these powers in a considerate and proportionate way to protect the people that it represents.”
A Home Office Inspector visited the county council this week to look at its approach to using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).
The Act was introduced in 2000 to regulate the way in which public authorities such as the police and local authorities use covert investigation techniques to catch offenders.
They can be a vital way of gathering information for a range of important purposes, for example to protect public health (if someone is dumping hazardous waste illegally), to protect young people from harm (if someone sells alcohol to children), to prevent fraud (if someone is falsely claiming disability benefits) or to assess or collect taxes or other statutory charges.
Carmarthenshire County Council has only used the powers 55 times since 2005, in response to tens of thousands of service requests over the same time period and for a range of issues including surveillance of anti social tenants, benefit fraudsters, traders involved in under age sales, and unfair trading practices like cold calling. It has had the most success in the surveillance of illegal dumping of controlled waste, and surveillance of public car parking where anti social behaviour takes place.
Carmarthenshire head of public protection Philip Davies said: “The county council has only used these powers on a small number of occasions. We use it to detect crime, improve community safety and to protect the environment.
“We have had a RIPA Inspector here this week and the initial feedback is that the Inspector is very complimentary about how Carmarthenshire uses these powers in a considerate and proportionate way to protect the people that it represents.”
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