Baroness Jenny Jones has questioned the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Craig Mackey and the Deputy Mayor on the the ethical and financial implications of spying on “all sorts of innocent people who don’t break the law”
A section of Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones’s file, published on the MayorWatch site.
Following a Freedom of Information request, which cost a £10 administratin fee, the Green Assembly Member was given access to her file, which she described as “trivial and such a waste of police time”. Speaking at a recent Police and Crime Committee meeting she told the Deputy Met Commisioner “quite honestly I want my money back”.
Labelling the file as “pathetic”, Jenny describe its contents on twitter shortly after receiving the file in August as “just a collection of entries regarding speeches I made in Trafalger Square and my own twitter comments.” She revealed that the file also contained a tweet she made announcing her selection as the Green Party Mayoral Candidate.
Although the Green Peer joked that she had expected the file to be thicker, she put pressure on the Met to explain why the intelligence was authorised: “How much did it cost to compile this? How many hours were spent compiling it when the police could have been doing some police work? I want to know who actually is the person who authorised the collection of so much trivia on an elected politician. What is the Mayor doing about this – is he concerned at all?”
She added: “My concern is that this is incredibly intrusive into people’s lives on a level that is not of any value.”
This is not the first time Jenny has held to Met to account on its intrusive surveillence tactics. She recently condemned a court ruling that Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) allows superintendants to authorise undercover police officers to engage in sexual relationships with innocent people in order to potentially gather intelligence. Ms Jones said:
“I find this shocking and I think the public will too. It is time for Parliament to amend RIPA and for a public inquiry to restore trust in the police.”
Jenny has also spoken out against a decision made by the Court of Appeals that the human rights case against police officers who had sexual relationships and even fathered children with environmentalists in an attempt to gain information shoud be heard in a closed court.
“If justice is to be done and seen to be done then it cannot happen behind closed doors.”
“The Met paid no regard for the privacy of these women when their officers infiltrated their lives and homes and families. However, they seem determined to wash their dirty laundry in private and refuse to be scrutinised on this issue. How can the women, not to mention the public, have confidence in this system of policing if we are unable to participate in it?
Jenny has now asked members of the Police and Crime Committee of all political parties to request their files.