The UK as a police state

For many many months I have become increasingly concerned about the publication of allegedly new pieces of legislation. I use the word allegedly only because they have yet to hit the statute book and I am not sure whether the stories are real of the dreams / nightmares of paranoid and deluded journalists.

However, the most recent story read has driven me to blog.

In the UK we are probably the most watched community in the western world. Our movements can be tracked on a daily basis in any number of ways - some of which may lead to a permanent record, some temporary. Many people would say that if you have nothing to fear then why worry - well I have nothing to fear but it is MY business where I go and what I do and provided there is nothing illegal about it, it is NO BUSINESS of the state.

Then people may say that the surveillance will keep you on the straight and narrow - well the crime stats in the UK indicate that it won't and then there is this presumption of guilt - which goes against the UK legals system of presumed INNOCENCE.

So, where might you be surveilled during the day?

• Well there's all the CCTV cameras around, in town and city centres and mounted on poles monitoring road traffic.
• Average Speed cameras monitor and record your number plate, London has had number plate recognition cameras for years in the fight against terrorism.
• Police cars have Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems.
• The police and local councils have "Civil Defence" vehicles, effectively Transit vans with mobile CCTV.
• Then there are the speed cameras, both fixed and mobile.
• I have seen vehicles which look like mobile speed camera vans but with no markings - this surely is a breach of the Data Protection Act.
• The Vehicle Licensing Agency have their own vans with Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR)
• On the M4 motorway, heading West after Chippenham there are 5 cameras mounted on one of the bridges - they just appeared, no record of their purpose but they do not simply measure traffic flow, there are too many and they are too focused for that - probably ANPR devices recording YOUR journey along the M4.

Recently I read that plans are afoot to reduce the speed limit on country roads to 50mph so as to reduce road fatalities. Not sure how this would work, if you are hit by a car at 50, you are just as likely to die as you would were it travelling at 60. If you hit a tree at 50 I'd guess the outcome would be the same also. If you collide with an oncoming car the closing speed of 100mph is probably just as fatal as a closing speed of 120mph so the only conclusion that I can draw is that it will become an excuse to site more speed cameras. After all, in a recession, Government income comes under pressure so new revenue streams have to be put in to place.

Next there is a planned change to speed camera signage. It used to be law that all roads that could be monitored by speed camera (either fixed or mobile) had be signed as such - now no such signage is required so speed cameras will be put up without any warning signs.

Now, it could be said that if one sticks to the speed limits, then there should be no problem - but some speed limits - 30 in a non built up area on a straight road for example, can be really difficult to stick to - without starting constantly at the speedo, and that is not where one should be focusing ones attention. Very recently I was in Hampshire, driving down a hill in a 30mph zone with a speed camera looming. I was so focused on my speed that I very nearly missed the van that had stopped just after the camera to turn right!

Now I learn that the UK Government want to record details of everyone who departs the UK by land, sea or air will have their records held on a database for 10 years. I don't trust the Government with databases, they leak to much. This will just clog the system up with so much data that travellers can only expect to endure significantly longer delays at their point of departure.

I'm sorry but this is just too much. The UK Government is looking more and more like a totalitarian Police State. Our freedom of speech has been curtailed and our freedom of movement is being impinged on. as my anger levels increase so does the likelihood that I will do something extreme (well extreme for a middle class conservative anyway). The Convention on Modern Liberty took place recently with many high profile speakers, all of whom are concerned about the erosion of freedom and civil liberties. They have a Twitter feed and a Facebook profile and look to be serious -wonder where they will go? A political party, an action group or shut down by the Government for daring to speak out?

Just to keep us in our places, we now have a diverse range of police type agencies. It used to be just the Police who had these powers and responsibilities but now we have many other Pseudo Police agencies operating in this country and I bet that many people don't know who they are, what they can do or what the extent of their powers are.

Here's are the ones that I can think of "off the top of my head" as it were

Police, Police Community Support Officers, The Vehicle Inspection Agency (VOSA), Highways Agency Traffic Officers, Incident Support Units (whatever they may be), Community Wardens, British Transport Police, Military Police and so the list grows.

It's not that I am against the Police or that I wish for anarchy - far from it - but the growth in control and policing just seems over the top and probably extremely expensive by the time the necessary infrastructure and oversight for each organisation is put in to place - administrative costs that take money away from the point of delivery.

Why not just roll them all back in to the Police Force, one infrastructure will free up millions of pounds to reinforce front line delivery. Ah, but then I guess our munificent Government would see the opportunity to claw back some money are distribute it elsewhere - more expenses Mr MP?