CH207520 | How to do a compliance check: establishing the facts: covert surveillance: levels of covert activity

There are three levels of covert activity:

• basic fact check: no authorisation needed

• covert surveillance to observe business activity: authorised officer agreement needed

• directed surveillance likely to result in obtaining private information about a person: authorised officer agreement and Directed Surveillance Authority (DSA) needed.

Basic fact check - not surveillance

A single walk or drive by of a business premises to make simple observations. Perhaps to establish the size of a unit, to see if the business is trading, see the external condition of a shop, or obtain details from shop signage. During this you must not engage with people or third parties.

Covert surveillance to observe business activity

• Repeated walk by, drive by or visit to a business to monitor, for example, opening times

• Test purchases

• Test eats

• Observing cash handling procedures

• Counting staff and customers

• Observing how customers pay.

Directed surveillance

• Taking descriptions

• Recording conversations

• Monitoring a person’s movements and activities.

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)