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DUSTMEN COULD BE ASKED TO SPY FOR THE POLICE
By Benedict Brogan Political Editor Daily Mail 20/05/06
Council workers could be used as spies for the Government's campaign against anti-social behaviour.
Traffic wardens, park keepers and dustmen would be enlisted as informers and given access to police intelligence under plans drawn up by ministers.
The proposal was greeted with horror by police unions and civil liberty groups last night, who warned, it could be 'dangerous'.
The plan was submitted to Tony Blair by Hazel Blears before she stepped down as crime minister to become Labour party chairman.
Her ideas are likely to be well received in Number 10, where she is seen as one of the Prime Minister's most loyal allies.
But her suggestion for involving public employees in police work by asking them to report criminal behaviour caused some alarm last night.
In particular, she believes council staff should have access to police intelligence to help them know what to look for.
The idea would see dustmen alerted to keep an eye on a particular house and pass information to the police.
The plan could be implemented by 2008, although sources said details of training or whether council staff would be paid extra have not been settled.
The Police Federation claimed this week that ministers want to cut as many as 25,000 police jobs and replace them with cheaper community support officers.
A spokesman for the union said: 'There will be issues about data protection and confidentiality.
'The biggest issue is that sensitive information is carefully handled.
The police service is entirely accountable for all its actions and there are mechanisms in place if information is leaked.
'There are already mechanisms for sharing some information on things like anti-social behaviour and that will involve local authority employees.
'But if they are given information there will be an expectation that they will do something with it.
' He added: 'We would be concerned if this is part of a plan to see policing functions further handed out to people without power.'
James Welch, of the civil rights watchdog Liberty, said: 'Police intelligence is highly sensitive and can be very dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. It should only be disclosed on an absolute need-to-know basis.'
Conservative police reform spokesman Nick Herbert said: 'The idea of sharing appropriate local intelligence in order to maximise the effects of neighbourhood policing may be a good one but there do need to be proper safeguards.
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