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Hidden cameras, secret recording devices and private investigators are being used to snoop on people in Sussex.

Workers hide in parked cars to watch benefits cheats, while sleuths are dispatched to track down people who have been summonsed.

The techniques, more associated with spy fiction than the work of rural councils, are being used to solve crimes like fly-tipping, nuisance noise and vandalism.

Councils have the power to snoop on people suspected of breaking the law - but critics say greater transparency and more safeguards are needed to make sure the process is not abused.

Council officers in Sussex made 112 requests last year for the right to use surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - known as Ripa.

Most of the cases were investigations into rogue traders or benefits cheats.

Other suspected offences ranged from fly-tipping to graffiti.

Councils nationally have faced accusations of overkill for using the Act to solve low-level crimes.

But Sussex councils told The Argus the powers are vital to saving the taxpayer money and fighting antisocial behaviour and fraud.

The actual amount of surveillance and monitoring of people living in Sussex remains hidden because Government ministries and other agencies refuse to confirm or deny whether they use the powers.

Hundreds of public bodies as diverse as the NHS, Whitehall departments and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society are eligible to use the Act.

Brighton and Hove City Council workers made 19 requests to use powers under Act in 2007, mostly to find out the identities of subscribers to telephone numbers and internet sites used in trading standards investigations.

It was also used to investigate flytipping and vandalism.

The council said the Act was necessary to provide speedy and cost-effective results.

A spokesman said: "We use these powers to protect the public from criminals.

These range from fraudsters to people fly-tipping trade waste on local beauty spots. Without such evidence many prosecutions would fail, council money would be wasted on investigations and rogue traders would go on fleecing residents."

The council was inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, the body which oversees the use of the Act, but the inspection report has not been released.

Councillor Keith Taylor, convenor of Brighton and Hove City Council's Green Party, called for councils to publish such reports. He said openness was vital to make sure councils use their powers appropriately.

He said: "While I understand the need for the council to be able to verify claims for public money, we must be vigilant to see these powers are not abused."

One department of Crawley Borough Council used the Act to entitle officers to use "directed surveillance" to discover who damaged the lock to a block of flats.

The council also confirmed a private "searching agent" had been employed to find someone who was subject to a summons.

This year, a covert worker has been used to spy on a housing benefits suspect from a car to establish their home address. A council spokesperson said: "Crawley Council uses the Act's powers very sparingly. Any application to use the powers have to be signed off by a senior manager."

Wealden District Council used the Act to monitor the source of nuisance noise and to investigate fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour.

A spokesman said: "Within a large rural area such as Wealden, it is increasingly difficult to catch those who seek to blight our rural landscapes, towns and villages through antisocial crimes such as fly-tipping, graffiti and noise nuisance."

The council said surveillance cameras and recording equipment were only used when it was "necessary and proportionate".

West Sussex trading standards made the most applications under the Act in 2007. Officers investigated cold-calling tarmac traders, poor workmanship of businesses installing driveways and Trade Descriptions Act offences.

Worthing Borough Council is known to have used the Act to obtain information from a private investigator about housing benefits and council tax fraud.

Mid Sussex District Council used it to investigate 17 benefits fraud and five environmental health offences, while Lewes District Council used it for suspected fly-tipping and criminal damage.

Chichester District Council used the Act to investigate housing benefit, environmental health and community safety offences.

Hastings Borough Council investigated fly-tipping and a housing benefit claimant.

12:44pm Friday 16th May 2008

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