We know that there was a lot of concerns popping up in the comments following Andrew N’s reporting of the Mail on Sunday’s piece saying that extended police powers could require all people travelling to and from the Isle of Wight on the ferries to have their personal data logged.
Jonathan Green, Sales & Marketing Director of Red Funnel got in touch with us with a just-issued clarification by the Home Office.
The key point for the Island – The Home Office has “no plans to extend the new powers to other domestic routes,” beyond the Great Britain to/from Northern Ireland route.
Here’s the clarification in full.
- Section 14 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 introduced a new power that will allow the police to capture passenger, crew and service information on air and sea journeys within the United Kingdom.
- Important to recognise the power is to meet a need identified by the police, security and intelligence agencies to strengthen the UK against the threat from international terrorism.
- The focus of the new power is on routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We have no plans to extend these powers to other domestic routes.
- The specific police requirements, which will include details of the data required, have yet to be finalised and will be subject to a 12 week public consultation where all interested parties will have the opportunity to contribute.
- The public consultation is expected to take place during 2009 – the exact timing will be advised as soon as possible.
image: treehouse1977
