A couple of months ago the Guardian revealed that UK police were installing a CCTV network in Birmingham to monitor the Muslim community as a "counterterrorism" measure. The network was cancelled just a few weeks before it was supposed to go live. Today, an inquiry has found that the police engaged in an explicit campaign of deception to mislead the local community, and completely ignored the law around surveillance cameras:
Police devised a "storyline" that concealed the true purpose of the cameras. Counter-terrorism insignia was removed from paperwork as part of a deliberate strategy to "market" the surveillance operation as a local policing scheme to improve community safety.With such an obvious abuse of power and flagrant disregard for the law, you'd expect someone would have been held accountable. Yeah, right:[...]
Police assurances that security cameras would be used for local policing were highly misleading. Although ANPR data was to be shared on regional and national databases, the network was controlled by the counter-terrorism unit. There was "no local facility to view the cameras" and "nobody in place to monitor them".
[...]
Officers failed to comply with national CCTV regulations or conduct proper consultation. They did not obtain statutory clearance for the use of covert cameras and, Thornton said, there was "very little evidence" that police had even considered their legal obligations.
There have been no resignations or disciplinary action over Project Champion.And there we have it: a lawless, unaccountable police state.
Meanwhile, it really makes you wonder whether New Zealand police are getting up to similar tricks here, especially given the lack of regulation around public surveillance. Unfortunately, thanks to their vigorous use of s6(c) of the Official Information Act (which exists to protect the right to a fair trial and the ability of police to conduct investigations, but is frequently used to cover up policy information relating to police), then we'll probably never know.
