MOST commentators on the Police Bill saluted Jack Straw's supposed U-turn on the Bill and were jubilant at the passing of last month.
Hugo Young in the Guardian on January 23 was one of the few to of the "democratic response' to the fact decades and tolerated by politicians the fact that it was unlawOne of the key purposes of this new Billisto make lawful what has been going on unchecked since the 1970s at least and which saw between 500-600 buggings a year take place.
Bugging frequently involves breaking into premises and may well be accompanied by the removal of private documents. This is more usually called burglary.
Fantasy A few years ago Labour leaders would have rejected Hugo Youne's statistics as paranoid fantasies. The Bruso ponce, tacy would nave assured us, do not engage in illegal bugging and burglary. If such allegations could have been substantiated they would have demanded a public inquiry into how and why the police could act illegally.
They would have attacked such threats to civil liberties. Today they no longer pretend that the police act legally - they simply want to deits legal strike shows.
Tragically the voices of the major civil liberties organisations have been more than a little muted tempt to appear as champions of caining authoritarianism.
elocity was involved in drafting the Labour party amendments although Director John Wadham has argued that the Liberal proposals are better, highlighting that the Surveillance would be di. rectly appointed by government. Liberty also other provisions of the Bill which have been ig• nored in the foon the The Bill creates National Crime Squad Thousands opposed the last increase in police powers tional Criminal Intelligence Service on a statutory footing but the mechanisms for democratic control of both are sorely inadequate. There are virtually no controls on cither the accuracy of the information beld'or who has access to them.
The issue in the Bill which will have most impact on the greatest number of people is the major exThe Bill extends these checks for employment and ofer pursos and the breadth and and scope of the information contained in them will be enormous. There are no adequate ways of checking the acuracy of the information held or its relevance.
This provision obviously affects those with criminal records - some 34 percent of males under 35. Their chances of getting decent employ. ment will be severely reduced. So much for reabilitation of offenders. However, others are also af fected.
Cuts in services
Cash-starved local authorities may have to further reduce services to meet the costs of checking on employces. Local authorities currently pay for police checks under current legislation for those such as childminders who are supposed to register with, but are not employed by, councils.
Under the Police Bill child. minders may well find themselves for themselves but everyone in Given the costs involved it is nikcly that many cailaminacis or would-be childminders will simply not register with the local authority. The risks are obvious. So much for Blair's desire to get single mothers into employment.
The Police Bill is a threat to civil liberties. It is a threat to the organised labour movement. It is a threat to those active in campains. It can not be amended. We need to campaign to ensure that Labour vores against it and, if it is passed before