Darlington Borough Council will endeavour to apply the principles of RIPA to all activities where covert surveillance or covert human intelligence sources are utilised. In pursuit of its powers under the Act the Council will also take into account their duties under other legislation, in particular the Human Rights Act 1998 and Data Protection Act 1998, and its common law obligations.
The Act came into force on the 24th September 2000, and aims to balance, in accordance with the European Convention of Human Rights, the right of individuals with the need for law enforcement and security agencies to have powers to perform their roles effectively. The Act allows local authorities to collect evidence of criminal activity lawfully where the investigation requires covert surveillance even where that may lead to them obtaining private information about individuals. The types of surveillance covered by this policy are:
View RIPA policy 2007-2008 (pdf document)
More information about RIPA