Big brother using more surveillance devices

Law enforcement agencies are using more surveillance devices as a part of their investigations, but these may not necessarily be increasing the number of arrests, according to the Attorney-General's Surveillance Devices Act 2004 annual report.

The report (PDF) stated that the Australian Federal Police had seen an increase of about 30 per cent in the number of surveillance device warrants, obtaining 406 warrants in the reporting period, up from 311 in the previous year. It is the main government agency that requests surveillance warrants aside from the Australian Crime Commission, which saw a 10 per cent decrease in warrants obtained from last year, down to 179 warrants from 199.

Overall, there was a 12.6 per cent increase in warrants issued over the previous year. These statistics, while they include NSW and Victorian Police, represent warrants at a federal level. State and territory law enforcement agencies have separate legislation to draw from, and are only included in the attorney-general's report during Commonwealth or joint investigations.

Warrants issued by law enforcement agencies.
(Credit: Attorney-General's Department, CC BY 3.0)

Although the annual report breaks warrants into categories of optical, listening, data, tracking and device retrieval, almost all warrants are listed as a combination of these. This makes it difficult to determine what type of surveillance that government agencies are using, or if there is a trend towards, for example, greater data surveillance over optical.

Warrants were also typically never refused. In the past three reporting periods, only two warrants were refused. In addition, no applications to extend warrants had been refused in the past three years.

In some cases, warrants aren't necessary. According to the report, optical surveillance devices can be used if they can be installed and retrieved without entering a premises or interfering with the interior of a vehicle without permission. Similarly, tracking devices can be installed on or under vehicles so long as they do not require entering a premises or interfering with the vehicle's interior.

Arrests, prosecutions and convictions resulting from surveillance.
(Credit: Attorney-General's Department, CC BY 3.0)

However, although the number of warrants has increased, the total number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions have not necessarily matched. Total arrests dropped by 29 per cent from 108 last year to 77, and prosecutions increased by 23 per cent from 44 to 54, while convictions dropped 38 per cent from 24 to 15.

The report did state that it is possible that the figures may be understated due to consequent arrests, prosecutions and convictions occurring in separate reporting periods, and that, in some cases, convictions are recorded without the need to provide information obtained through surveillance.