Legislation

The main areas of legislation that Langley Solutions Ltd adhere to are:

The Human Rights Act 1998

The sections of the Act relevant to surveillance are:

Article 6 Right to a fair trial

1 In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.

2 Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.

3 Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:

(a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him;

(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence

(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require;

(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;

(e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court.

Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life

1 Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2 There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

The Data Protection Act 1998

The first Principle of Data Protection is that the data should be fairly and lawfully obtained. For the purposes of surveillance, Data processed under the following sub-sections of the Act are exempt from that Principle:

29.-(1)

(a)the prevention or detection of crime,

(b)the apprehension or prosecution of offenders,

35.-(1)

Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where the disclosure is required by or under any enactment, by any rule of law or by the order of a court.

35.-(2)

Personal data are exempt from the non-disclosure provisions where the disclosure is necessary-

(a) for the purpose of, or in connection with any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings, or

(c) for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, or is otherwise necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.

The Private Security Industry Act 2001

Anyone involved in providing contracted private investigation services will require a licence. This includes employees, employers, managers, supervisors and directors or partners of private investigation companies. It is enacted that all such persons must be of recent good character, be able to demonstrate competence, and be licensed, if they are to carry out any of the following licensable activities: This Act applies to any surveillance, inquiries, or investigations that are carried out for the purpose of-

(a) obtaining information about a particular person or about the activities or whereabouts of a particular person; or

(b) obtaining information about the circumstances in which or means by which property has been lost or damaged; Although no such license exists at present, licensing will be implemented in the near future & Langley Solutions Ltd are liaising with the SIA to prepare for this.

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

This legislation was enacted principally to control the activity of stalkers, but could be construed to apply to surveillance operatives in certain circumstances. The relevant sections of the Act are:

Prohibition of harassment

(1) A person must not pursue a course of conduct—

(a) which amounts to harassment of another, and

(b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a course of conduct if the person who pursued it shows—

(a) that it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime,

(b) that it was pursued under any enactment or rule of law or to comply with any condition or requirement imposed by any person under any enactment, or

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA)

There is no single piece of legislation that governs surveillance in the private sector. Controls are placed on surveillance carried out by or on behalf of public bodies (local authorities) and in the use of most but not all technical surveillance by virtue of this piece of legislation.

Personal Injury surveillance on behalf of a public body falls into the category of "Directed Surveillance" under the Act.

Directed Surveillance section 26(2) RIPA is defined as:

Surveillance is directed for the purposes of this Act, if it is covert but not intrusive and is undertaken -

(a) for a specific investigation or a specific operation;

(b) in a manner likely to obtain private information about a person (whether or not that person is specifically targeted for purposes an investigation) and

(c) not as an immediate response to events which would otherwise make seeking authorisation under the act unreasonable e.g. – spotting something suspicious and continuing to observe it.

Covert Surveillance 26 (9) is defined as:

(a) If, and only if, carried out in a manner calculated to ensure that persons subject to the surveillance are unaware it is taking place.

Grounds for Authorisation:

Authority to carry out Directed Surveillance can only be granted for specified purposes. In an injury claim this would be – "For the purpose of preventing or detecting crime."

Reasonable Suspicion that some element of the claim was either fraudulent or exaggerated would be needed by the Public Body for authority to be given.

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