ON May 23 I took part in a peaceful 'street party' in Lancaster's Dalton Square between 1-2pm. During that time I was extensively filmed by members of Lancashire Constabulary.

There were two officers on the ground dressed in black with their numbers obscured, one with a video camera and one with a stills camera, and there were two officers (I presume) on the top floor of Palatine Hall also filming the scene in the square.

I was not involved in any illegal activity of any kind and I have not been charged with any offence of any kind. Can I have Lancashire Constabulary's official assurance that this material (video and stills) will be used only for the purpose of providing evidence in any prosecutions that may result from this street party and not shown to anyone else who is not a serving officer in the force?

Further, I would like reassurance that this filming exercise was not an intelligence gathering exercise whereby data is collected on ordinary citizens who have not committed an offence and then stored for possible future use. Has the constabulary passed on the films and videos to any national security agency, Home Office working party, inter-police force co-operation agency or any other organisation of whatever kind? Will the films and videos be destroyed in their entirety when any prosecutions have been brought to court and resolved?

Prof John Whitelegg,

Derwent Road,

Lancaster.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.