Britain 'becoming an informant society'

19 August 2008

Subjects:

Tom Griffin (London, OK): It's an interesting reflection on the rise of the database state that some of the best reporting on UK civil liberties these days can be found in the pages of online I.T. magazine The Register.

In the latest example, writer John Ozimek follows up the case of former head teacher John Pinnington, which he argues "takes the UK one step closer to becoming an 'informant society' along the lines of the former East Germany or Soviet Union.

The High Court ruled last month that allegations of abuse against Mr Pinnington must be included in an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check even though the court agreed the allegations had 'serious weaknesses' and 'could not be substantiated.'

The Register quotes Pinnington's solicitor, Chris Saltrese:

Mr Pinnington’s case tested the outer limit of inclusion by posing the question of whether allegations that did not attain a threshold of reasonable suspicion ought to be included.

Reasonable suspicion is a low threshold – it is that required for arrest and to trigger care proceedings in family law. It is no where near the standard of criminal prosecution, let alone conviction.

Yet the court held that the threshold should fall below reasonable suspicion. All that was required was that the allegations could not, on the untested material in possession of the police, be dismissed as necessarily untrue.

Many parents will undoubtedly back the court ruling, but there must be a danger that a system that is bound to affect innocent people will tend to discredit all such allegations, including those that need to be taken seriously.

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