Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

SURVEILLANCE

I was in Washington DC last week with the Home Affairs select committee as part of our investigations into anti- terrorist activity and the surveillance society. We went to see what our American cousins are doing in both areas, to learn what we can do better. We had meetings on Capitol Hill as well as the White House and department for Homeland Security. We will be reporting to government shortly.

This all feeds into big decisions to be made at Westminster about how long the police can detain people without charge if suspected of terrorism. In the USA it is about 24 hours, but they have a system there of being able to bring a lower charge, maybe an immigration offence, increasing the charge to terrorism later once they have completed their enquiries. We do not have that system. American lawyers are amazed that English law now allows us to keep a suspect for up to 28 days, not just without charge, but even without being told why they are being held!

Of course, if a person turns out to be the guy who planted the bomb or organised the plot, what do we care? But what if it’s your son or daughter, arrested by mistake, on their way to work? What about the innocent South American in London two years ago, not just arrested by mistake – but shot seven times in the head. By mistake.

Parliament has to get the balance right between protecting our society from the terrible threat we now face, and making sure we don’t end up with a police state. The country’s top policeman came to our committee recently and argued for a longer period – maybe 50 to 90 days. Because of the need to investigate mobile phone records, follow up international leads and trawl through computer hard drives, he anticipates future cases where this will take more than 28 days, even though they have not had such a case yet. The government are consulting us on whether the law should be changed. This week we will be probing the Home Secretary on this issue. At the moment, I am of the view that the case for an extended pre-charge detention period has yet to be made. Only two years ago 48 hours was the limit, then 7 days, now 28. Over the next few weeks, these weighty decisions will have to be taken. These are your freedoms.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, October 30, 2007