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Campaigners have called for a "root and branch review" of spy laws after it emerged local councils were using them to track dog-foulers and litter bugs.

Some local authorities have used the Act more than 100 times in the past 12 months to conduct surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa).

The Press Association contacted 97 councils to find out how they were using the powers, originally designed to combat crime and terrorism.

It followed the controversy surrounding the case of a family in Poole, Dorset, who were tracked covertly for nearly three weeks to check they lived in a school catchment area.

The same council has made similar checks on two other families in the last year using Ripa - and it defended its actions, saying the cases were treated as potential criminal activity, which allowed them to spy under the Act.

The majority of councils that responded said the surveillance was mainly used to combat rogue traders, benefit fraud, counterfeit goods and anti-social behaviour - like noise nuisance and criminal damage.

But the research found the law was also used to find out about people who let their dog foul, a breach of planning law, an animal welfare case and an instance of littering.

Surveillance was also used to investigate alleged misuse of a disabled parking badge.

The findings, which come from 46 of the 468 local authorities in the UK, have fuelled the debate on the surveillance culture in Britain and whether councils are using Ripa, which has been dubbed "a snoopers' charter", proportionately.

Privacy International director Simon Davies called for a "root and branch review" of Ripa and questioned the huge cost to the taxpayer of the council surveillance.

How did laws applicable to crime and terrorism end up being implemented against dog-foulers and litter bugs?

But the Home Secretary wants to go further, Smith wants police to harass those who will not live by "the rule of law."

Totalitarian law!

Youths who persistently misbehave and intimidate others in their communities should be "harassed themselves", Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said.

She said she wanted police in England and Wales to "turn the tables" on those who would not "live by the rules".

This could include repeated home visits and checks to identify benefit fraud or council and road tax non-payment.

'Early intervention'

Ms Smith, speaking in Westminster to an audience of professionals who deal with anti-social behaviour, announced £250,000 to fund an "action squad" which will encourage areas to better use such measures.

There could be "no excuse for inaction" while people lived in fear, she added.

She said she wanted to ensure "the tables were turned on offenders so that those who harass our communities are themselves harried and harassed".

Those who were being anti-social should also have their road tax, car insurance, TV licence and council tax payments checked, she added.

"That car of theirs: is the tax up to date? Is it insured? Let's find out.

"We need to send them a strong message that we're not having it, there's no room for that sort of behaviour in our communities and that there are tough sanctions for it."

She also called for greater help for parents "who struggle to keep their kids under control" and an automatic requirement for courts to consider granting a parenting order - aimed at parents who would not cooperate - whenever they issued an Asbo to a young person.

But Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said there was "nothing new" in the home secretary's speech

The home secretary urged forces across the country to follow the example of Essex Police, who have mounted an operation to target those who repeatedly cause problems.

They used local intelligence to identify offenders, knocked on their doors and warned them their behaviour would not be tolerated.

They then photographed and questioned them and their friends over the next few days.

"Dramatic" results from the new approach included burglaries, criminal damage and car crime stopping altogether on one estate during the operation and staying at a low level afterwards.

"Those responsible for anti-social behaviour had no room for manoeuvre and nowhere to hide," Ms Smith said of the operation
The government needed to introduce methods of "constructive intervention" rather than having an "over-reliance on anti-social behaviour orders on their own", he added.

"It is important that government panic over their polling unpopularity does not usher a return to Asbo mania."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7389280.stm