The always on the ball Spyblog has beat me to it in writing about the further details which are coming out with regard to the arrest of Damian Green.
The Press Association, via The Guardian reports:
Police 'secretly taped Damian Green arrest'
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 December 2008 02.47 GMT[...]
The Met said: “A tape sound recording was made of the MP's arrest
and subsequent period in police charge, without his knowledge, prior to
arrival at Belgravia police station from Kent.“This was authorised at superintendent level to provide an accurate
record of anything that may have been said by officers or the MP over a
period of nearly two and a half hours.“This was done with the best of intentions but to ensure total
transparency this matter has been voluntarily referred to the Office of
the Surveillance Commissioners for their advice.”“The Crown Prosecution Service are also aware of this information
which would be fully disclosable if any proceedings were to take place.”
It is not good enough to spin and claim that “This was done with the best of intentions”, it is still in contravention of the existing Statutory Codes of Practice,
and is probably enough on its own, to get the whole case against Damian
Green MP, such as it is, thrown out in a court of law.
The Office of Surveillance Commissioners, is meant to be consulted before
the use of covert electronic bugging devices. Only in fast moving
tactical situations, e.g. an ongoing kidnap / ransom etc. is it
permissible to “fill in the paperwork” immediately afterwards.
That obviously does not apply to the arrest of Damian Green MP.
This secret audio bugging is obviously a contravention of the
existing Police and Criminal Evidence Act statutory codes of practice,
where recording of interviews by the Police, requires, firstly that
they are not secret, and that two copies of the tape
or other recoding media are produced, which are sealed and then signed,
with one copy being given into the custody of a Police officer who is
not involved directly in the investigation.
PACE Code E: Code of Practice on audio recording interviews with suspects (.pdf)
2.1 Recording of interviews shall be carried out openly to
instil confidence in its reliability as an impartial and accurate
record of the interview.
That is to provide a legally robust audit trail, and to prevent
sneaky editing or forgery of the taped interview by the Police or
others – such abuses have happened in the past.
None of those PACE safeguards apply to secret recordings as described in the Metropolitan Police statement above.
As usual, some Obvious Questions, which the mainstream media journalists etc. should be asking:
- When exactly were the secret recording devices switched on ?
- Did they record any briefings or radio instructions
given to the arrest team before they actually started the arrest ? Will
these briefings or instructions be disclosed to the defence lawyers ? - Did any of these secret recordings pick up anything said between Damian Green and his legal advisors , i.e. legally privileged information ?
That would also contravene the Covert Surveillance
Code of Practice Pursuant to Section 71 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.. (.pdf) - Wast the only reason the secret recordings stopped
after two and a half hours, due to the battery life / tape capacity of
the, presumably portable, recording device ? - Who exactly “authorised” this covert surveillance “at
superintendent level ” , and why did he or she consider this to be
proportionate ? - Has any illegal covert surveillance been mentioned in
the report by the Ian Johnston, the Chief Constable of the British
Transport Police who investigated this controversial arrest ? - Who else has been secretly and illegally recorded in
this way, by the “Cover Your Backside” attitude of the Metropolitan
Police Service Counter Terrorism Command or other Police forces ?
I for one am now convinced that the ACPO and the whole array of Senior Police ranks believe that they are free to make up the rules as they go along.
It is now time that they are placed in a position where they are held fully responsible when they break the law, and made accountable by losing their positions and face court action when this is the case.
UPDATE: As if just to prove a point, it has emerged today that the car hire service run from the home of Britain's most senior anti-terror
officer could be operating illegally.
The firm, run by Met Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick's wife Judith, does not
have a private hire vehicle or operator's licence.
UPDATE 2:
The Scotland Yard counter-terrorism unit that arrested
Tory MP Damian Green is set to be disbanded, the Evening Standard has
learned.
Senior police sources say the Counter-Terrorism Command, known as SO15, is
expected to be split up into separate units for Special Branch officers and
anti-terrorism experts.
The command, which is led by Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, was created
two years ago in a bid to merge the know-how and operational experience of the
two branches.
Special Branch is now expected to revert to its own SO12, stand-alone
designation and anti-terrorism to its SO13 designation.
MPs believe part of the problem stemmed from the fact that Special Branch
officers, who have experience of dealing with politicians, were not in the lead
on the case.
The disbandment of the Counter-Terrorism Command will be a serious blow for
Mr Quick, who accused the Tories of trying to undermine his investigation into
the leaks by helping the Mail on Sunday with a story about his wife's car hire
business.
Full details to this update in This Is London
