Jacqui Smith's 'Stasi': Now council posts 'Wanted' pictures of litterbugs and keeps them on file

 

By Andrew Levy

Last updated at 12:24 AM on 28th August 2008

Litterers will be photographed - and if they give a false name, the pictures will be sent to local papers

Town hall snoopers armed with police powers are issuing 'wanted' photographs of suspected litterbugs, it emerged last night.

Litter wardens given police-style accreditation by the Government are using cameras to snap alleged offenders. They are then shamed in local newspapers.

Colchester Borough Council in Essex said it would make it easier to find offenders and make them pay a £75 fine.

It also said the images would be stored to help identify repeat offenders.

Four 'street care officers' can stop members of public, demand personal information, take photographs and issue fines under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, details of which were revealed in the Daily Mail.

Hundreds of town hall workers and security guards have been given sweeping powers allowing them to hand out fines for a large number of offences, stop cars and seize alcohol from under-age drinkers.

Privacy campaigners have accused ministers of moving towards a 'Stasi snooper state' - a reference to the notorious former East German secret police.

There are also concerns that the Government is attempting 'policing on the cheap', by allowing civilians to carry out jobs previously reserved for officers.

Simon Reed, of the Police Federation, said: 'This government seems intent on diluting the policing resilience in this country by handing out traditional policing powers to civilian staff.

An article from the Colchester Gazette, which printed a picture of a woman alleged to have littered

'The federation has concern about the presence of an ill-equipped and poorly trained second layer of law enforcement.

'Not only does it cause members of the public confusion over who has what powers, but it undermines the special covenant between the police and the public who rightly expect policing functions to be performed by trained, independent and accountable officers.'

The Colchester scheme was criticised by liberty campaigners.

Phil Booth, of the anti-ID card group NO2ID, said: 'It seems massively disproportionate for people's faces to appear everywhere for littering and for their details to be retained when they have paid their fixed penalty.

'The only time I've seen something similar in the papers is when police are trying to identify a violent offender.'

Even the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: 'It sounds like one of the harebrained things that councils come up with.'

The Information Commissioner's Office warned there could be 'ramifications for misidentification' - suggesting innocent people whose photographs are published might be able to take legal action.

Home Secretary: Jacqui Smith

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: 'Town hall jobsworths are giving local government a bad name.

'Common sense might suggest providing more bins with ashtrays rather than wanted ads and busybodies with long lenses.'

Colchester gave litter wardens the Home Office-approved powers five years ago. It began taking photos last month.

The team operates from Monday to Saturday and covers the town and nearby villages in a 160-square-mile area.

The first person caught by the scheme was 26-year-old mother-of-one Amy Heaps, of Clacton, whose photograph appeared in the Colchester Gazette on August 7.

She had given a false address when she was accused of dropping a cigarette butt, which she admits. She faces court on charges of littering and wilfully obstructing an officer.

But she said she gave the wrong address because she was 'petrified' by the man who demanded her details.

She added: 'I was shopping in town and put down my cigarette before I went into a store.

'When I came out a young bloke in a polo shirt tugged at my arm and told me I had dropped litter.

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'I said I was sorry and offered to pick it up, but he simply produced a ticket and started asking me all sorts of personal questions.

'I was scared and began to panic. I didn't know who he was or whether he was allowed to ask for so much information.

Snap-happy: Warden Simon Lee using his camera in Colchester

'I did give him my name, but I changed the address to the one where my parents used to live.

'I was in tears. Everyone was looking at me and must have thought I was a shoplifter.

'When I heard my photo had appeared all over the newspaper I was horrified.'

Shane Taylor, the litter wardens' team leader, said: 'Dropping litter is a criminal offence and can lead to a fine of up to £2,500.

'We hope that this name-and-shame campaign will act as a strong deterrent.'

Labour councillor Tim Young dismissed concerns about innocent people being accidentally named and shamed.

'We did a risk assessment and decided we wanted to go ahead,' he said.

'The lawyers cleared it and, to be honest, we want to keep Colchester clean and tidy and if that upsets a few libertarians we'll put up with it.

'We want a zero-tolerance attitude to litter in Colchester. The answer to this problem is don't drop litter.'

The street care officers gave out 274 fixed penalties in 2007 for offences including littering, dog fouling and fly posting. Of these, 36 went to court.

Fixed penalties can even be given to children as young as ten.

Jacqui Smith's secret police: Now even more jobsworths can demand your details and issue fines

 

By James Slack

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1049520/Jacqui-Smiths-secret-police-Now-jobsworths-demand-details-issue-fines.html

26th August 2008

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been accused by privacy campaigners of orchestrating an East German-style secret police

Security guards and town hall workers are being armed with sweeping police-style powers, it has emerged.

For a few hundred pounds, state and private sector employees can receive Home Office accreditation.

This allows them to hand out fines for a raft of offences, from dropping litter to riding a bike on the pavement.

They can also stop cars to check their tax discs, seize alcohol from underage drinkers and demand people's names and addresses.

The hope is that they will free up rank-and-file officers from having to perform these unpopular tasks. The uniformed, badged army of snoopers will become a vital part of the 'extended police family', ministers say.

But privacy campaigners have dubbed them Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's 'Stasi' after the East German secret police.

Phil Booth of NO2ID said: 'This is a sinister move towards a Stasi snooper state in which jobsworths are devolved the powers of the police - including the right to demand you identify yourself.'

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve added: 'This is a consequence of the Government's obsession with policing on the cheap as well as their staggering complacency towards the extension of surveillance by an increasing amount of different bodies.

'The public will be angered that the Home Office is seeking to take serious powers that should be appropriately applied by the police and encouraging them to be given not just to local councils, but also to private firms.

'The public want to see real police on the streets discharging these responsibilities, not private firms who may use them inappropriately - including unnecessarily snooping on the lives of ordinary citizens.'

Details of the new army of police-style officers emerged in Home Office papers released today.

There are already 1,400 town hall and private sector staff accredited, and ministers want a dramatic expansion of the scheme.

Called the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, it allows the likes of security guards, park wardens, car park attendants and store detectives to boost their roles if they undergo training and pay a small fee to their local police force.

The powers range from issuing £60 fines for truancy to giving out Penalty Notices for Disorder for more serious offences such as harassment.

Critics said today that the Government is creating a third level to the police service, behind fully-fledged warranted officers and the controversial Community Support Officers known as 'Blunkett's Bobbies'.

The only significant difference between the accredited workers and CSOs is that they do not have the power to detain a suspect.

Instead, they would have to summon police to help if a situation turned ugly.

However, they will have a special priority hotline to report their intelligence to detectives.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said the accredited workers have a 'critical role to play in neighbourhood policing teams and are a key component of the extended police family'.

They can wear a special badge, and a uniform approved by the local chief constable. At present, they are wearing their employer's existing uniform with the badge sewn on, but police chiefs could eventually be encouraged to decide on a standard uniform across their force area, the Home Office said.

The guidance document seemed to acknowledge that the offences covered by the accredited workers could seem relatively petty.

It stated: 'It is particularly beneficial to use accredited persons to effectively target those community problems that are deemed unsuitable for the police because police enforcement might be seen to be excessive by the community.'

Cycling on footpaths is just one of many 'offences' that accredited workers can issue penalty notices for

Councils and other public sector organisations must pay between £300 and £315 to be accredited, and between £35 to £90 per employee.

In the private sector, the costs are between £450 and £600 per firm, and £32 to £132 per employee. The scheme is being sold to companies such as security firms as a way of boosting their profile.

The Home Office document said: 'It has to be recognised that there is a clear commercial advantage for private sector organisations in terms of the positive marketing that accreditation can bring.'

It also revealed that chief constables are reviewing the scheme, a move which could lead to even greater powers being handed out.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Community Safety Accreditation Schemes enable Chief Constables to designate limited powers to employees of organisations who contribute towards community safety.

'CSAS supports Neighbourhood Policing by building links, improving communications and helping in the delivery of effective policing to neighbourhoods.

'Accredited Persons have a key role to play in the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing and are an important part of the extended police family.'

The department said that the revenue raised by the fines given out would go to the Treasury, and would not be kept by private firms or councils.