NO matter how valuable it may be in the fight against crime, the move in planned legislation to allow police the enter private homes to plant bugging devices and hidden cameras is a sinister one for any supposedly free society to contemplate.

It is, of course, a folly to pretend that these things do not happen already. They do and have done for ages - secretly and with the force of law behind them, though police forces using these methods are left open to civil actions for trespass and damage to property. However, if they are to be fully regularised by parliament and their benefits as an anti-crime weapon are to be fully employed , it is vital, that full accountability for their use must be placed on the police authorities - so that abuses of liberty are minimised.

The ideal, would be for an all-party parliamentary body to supervise the system and for police authorities to explain in detail in their annual reports why and in which cases - once they have been dealt with by the courts or prosecuting authorities - it was felt necessary to spy on the suspects involved.

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