Gestapo Watch - Birmingham police's CCTV cameras

[TonyGosling]

• Police devised a "storyline" that concealed the true purpose of the cameras. Counter-terrorism insignia was removed from paperwork as part of a deliberate strategy to "market" the surveillance operation as a local policing scheme to improve community safety.

• Top police officers failed to ask questions about the operation's "proportionality, legitimacy, authority, necessity, and the ethical values inherent in the proposed course of action". The report documented 11 instances when "oversight" mechanisms offered limited or no scrutiny.

• Police assurances that security cameras would be used for local policing were highly misleading. Although ANPR data was to be shared on regional and national databases, the network was controlled by the counter-terrorism unit. There was "no local facility to view the cameras" and "nobody in place to monitor them".

• Attempts by police to conceal the true purpose of the project caused "significant damage to community relations" in the West Midlands. One community leader was quoted as saying the project had "set relations back a decade".

• Officers failed to comply with national CCTV regulations or conduct proper consultation. They did not obtain statutory clearance for the use of covert cameras and, Thornton said, there was "very little evidence" that police had even considered their legal obligations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/30/police-surveillance-muslims-n o-regard-law