Anger at 'snoopers' charter'.SURVEILLANCE powers designed to tackle terrorism have been used by local councils more than 10,000 times - for "crimes" as minor as littering, it emerged yesterday. Details disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act showed that councils in England and Wales England and Wales are both constituent countries of the United Kingdom, that together share a single legal system: English law. Legislatively, England and Wales are treated as a single unit (see State (law)) for the conflict of laws. used powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to investigate offences ranging from dog fouling to taxi overcharging. Fewer than one in 10 inquiries resulted in any form of penalty. The Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats, British political party Liberal Democrats, British political party created in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal party with the Social Democratic party; the party was initially called the Social and Liberal Democratic party. , who obtained the details, said it represented a fresh erosion erosion (ĭrō`zhən), general term for the processes by which the surface of the earth is constantly being worn away. The principal agents are gravity, running water, near-shore waves, ice (mostly glaciers), and wind. of civil liberties and warned that Ripa was becoming a "snooper's charter". The findings, based on a survey of 182 councils in England and Wales which responded, showed Ripa powers have been used on 10,288 occasions since 2004. |
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