People's rights are very often stepped on by all sorts of institutions, which makes bureaucracy get bigger and bigger. However, this can also mean that sometimes bureaucracy could endanger people’s safety, just like in the case of the British police officers, who have to fill in endless forms in order to develop even the slightest routine activity.

Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, said, “There are all kinds of forms that must be filled in to do even a simple policing task. To mount a surveillance operation you have to fill in a seven page form, even if you just want to use a pair of binoculars. All this paperwork is emasculating the police service. Even if you just used your own eyesight, you would need it because that is classed as 'directed surveillance'.”

 

The purpose of the form is to ensure officers comply with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), the same controversial legislation allowing local councils to use surveillance powers for minor misdemeanors such as dog-fouling. In addition to the RIPA form, officers must fill out even more paperwork before they can carry out surveillance.

 

Mr Reed added, “You have to complete a risk assessment of the premises and then you have to do an operational order saying what staff, communications and vehicles you'll use, and so on. The authority for the surveillance operation has to be authorized by a superintendent. All the paperwork will take about a week to complete. We're not even talking about tackling major crime here.”

 

However, it seems that the discontent of the police officers towards this absurd practice has triggered some response. Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said, “We cannot make our police responsible for reducing crime and disorder and then tie their hands behind their backs. The police need not only the right resources to do their job but also the freedom to use them. We will revise the RIPA framework so that authorization – and the associated paperwork – is not required for everyday policing.”
 

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .