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> "Previous laws relating to policing and investigatory powers have been widely criticised by civil rights groups for their overreach and lack of effective over

• Silhouette 3y ago
  Take RIPA for example. Local authorities have literally deployed drones for covert surveillance. They have invoked powers under the Act in trivial cases such as fly tipping, dog fouling and deciding which school catchment area a child fell within. In some cases they were subsequently criticised for it or even found to have acted unlawfully but that obviously doesn't mean that the intrusion didn't happen or that the victims of that intrusion weren't distressed and possibly harassed as a result prior to some formal legal action going their way often at a much later date. There is absolutely no legitimate justification for local authorities dealing with those kinds of issues to have access to the kinds of lawful surveillance and intrusion powers that RIPA is primarily concerned with. Even if you accept that those powers are justified and necessary in cases such as imminent national security threats or investigating organised crime that still doesn't explain why so many organisations that are not the police, security services or perhaps HMRC need them.