RIPA policy

Whilst this policy is intended to provide an overview of RIPA and its relevance to this Council, detailed codes of practice are available from the Home Office. This policy makes it the responsibility of Officers likely to conduct surveillance, their Managers, the council’s appointed Authorising Officers and the Senior Responsible Officer to ensure they have access to and are familiar with these codes and any accompanying guidance.

The codes have recently been updated and although are not themselves law they are citable in a court of law and any deviation from them will require to be justified. Failure to comply with the code carries the risk that valuable and often critical evidence may be ruled inadmissible by the Courts.

All relevant staff are expected to carefully read the appropriate parts of the revised codes when considering operations and preparing applications. The revised codes have been incorporated into staff training which is periodically offered to our staff involved in investigations.

The codes can be found on the Home Office website.

Electronic versions of the application forms can also be downloaded from this site. Investigating officers are responsible for ensuring that they are using the most up to date forms.