After such a weighty opinion; A quote from a man that has long involved himself in environment action. I was stood next to him while he was being interviewed by a journalist. “There’s no need for the police and MI5 to break in - I’m not ashamed of anything I do. Tell ‘em to knock on the door ….. I’ll get the kettle on”.33
It continues … Police surveillance really went up a gear to enable officers to deal with the subjects targeted under the Public Order Act 1986 and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. This was just at the point of developments in modern computing, databases, the internet and improvements in video / digital camera technologies. Of course, they haven’t finished yet! Now, under the Conservative government, chapter 3 of these developments are coming down the pipe. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary has yet further ambitions with the law dealing with the more recent concept of ‘aggravated trespass’. This of course, is dealing with access to land. It is a common denominator that would affect festivals, travellers, environmental protest, trade dispute and even a rambler having a walk in the countryside. Surveillance in the operational policing of these matters will be greatly enhanced. “I would like to test the appetite to go further than the original proposals. I would like to broaden the existing categories of criminal trespass to cover trespassers on land who are there with the purpose of residing in their vehicle for any period and to give the police the relevant powers to arrest offenders in situ and to seize any vehicles or other property on unauthorised encampments promptly”.34 We are just at the cusp of a more widespread introduction of facial recognition systems. “Cameras are focused on an area; when people pass through the area their images are streamed directly to the live facial recognition system. This system contains a ‘watch-list’: a list of offenders wanted by the police or the courts”.35 Derived from all the methods and operations previously described. These techniques are currently the subject of much controversy and legal argument in the courts.
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