POLICE chiefs have admitted hunting down journalists’ sources at least 12 times in three years.
Scotland’s national force revealed they had intercepted phone calls and billing data on seven individuals suspected of passing information to reporters, in addition to the four targeted during an illegal operation to find Sunday Mail sources in April. A bid to snoop on another was turned down.
Police Scotland revealed the information more than a year after the Scottish Newspaper Society asked for it under freedom of information legislation – and just days before police chiefs and ministers are grilled at Holyrood over the force’s illegal attempt to find our sources.
Deputy chief constable Neil Richardson and Justice Secretary Michael Matheson will be quizzed by Holyrood’s justice committee on Tuesday after the police launched a molehunt when we revealed a forgotten suspect in the Emma Caldwell murder probe.
The use of phone and email intercepts was unjustified, unauthorised and branded “reckless” by watchdogs.
The admission that they had tried to hunt down reporters’s sources twelve times between 2011 and 2014 was condemned by Labour’s justice spokesman yesterday.
Graeme Pearson said: “If we are a democracy and have a free press then we should respect that, whether it is convenient or not.
“This kind of spying seems to have been more of a snoop to protect the reputation of the police service than investigate crime.
“I would like to see Michael Matheson accept responsibility for this, though if he does then it will be a first. At Tuesday’s justice committee, I would hope that, rather than deliver some superficial one-line quote, he would realise that he is there as justice secretary to maintain the standards that we expect within a democratic society.”
Pearson also questioned the timing of the admission.
He said: “The delayed release of this information just days before the justice committee meeting creates a suspicion, rightly or wrongly, that there is an attempt to divert attention away from key
concerns about the way the Emma Caldwell investigation was handled and the police’s snooping on Sunday Mail sources.”
Since March, all UK police forces have needed a judge’s approval to intercept phone and email information to find the source of a journalist’s information.
Police Scotland admitted in their respond to the freedom of information request that six of seven attempts to hunt down journalists’ sources were approved from 2011-2014. They refused to reveal how many there were before that on the grounds of the cost of searching for the information.
John McLellan, director of the Scottish Newspaper Society, questioned why it had taken a year to deal with a straightforward request for information.
He said: “We might never know exactly why Police Scotland found it necessary to trace journalists’ sources on so many occasions.
“However, this shows the extent to which they went to investigate matters which were almost certainly more about embarrassment rather than the public interest.
“Only they can explain why valuable resources were repeatedly diverted to track down those whose only crime was to assist journalists in bringing matters of importance to public attention.
“Once the practice became known, we sought more information and to compound the felony, Police Scotland then spent more than a year blocking what was always a reasonable request.
“It is to be hoped lessons have been learnt and the new police leadership can forge a better relationship with the Press.”
The justice committee grilling comes after the interception of communications commissioner criticised the force for snooping on four individuals – thought to be two serving officers and two ex-officers, including former detective Gerry Gallacher, who first uncovered serious concerns surrounding the probe into the murder of Emma Caldwell 10 years ago.
Deputy chief constable Richardson headed the force’s secretive Counter Corruption Unit, who flouted guidelines about spying on journalists’ sources.
The justice committee will also question Scottish Police Authority chief executive John Foley.
Deputy convener Elaine Murray said: “There seems to be a fairly long practice of police snooping into journalists’ sources. I want to find out what the Scottish Government knew and whether it had any interest in what was happening.
“These may have been operational decisions but you would expect ministers to want to know what is happening.”
Scottish Lib Dem justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said: “Police Scotland have stonewalled for months then released this information days ahead of a key committee hearing.
“People will think that they are more concerned with managing bad news than being fully transparent over the extent to which journalistic sources were spied on.
“Neil Richardson has some tough questions to answer when he appears at the justice committee on Tuesday.”
Another committee member, Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell, said: “Freedom of speech and the right of journalists to go about their work without being spied on is paramount.
“Anything that threatens that has to be addressed immediately. This looks like being yet another problem for Police Scotland, and it’s concerning to learn the practice may have been more widespread than first suggested.”
Police Scotland assistant chief constable Ruaraidh Nicolson said: “Of the seven identified investigations, four predate the formation of Police Scotland on April 1, 2013. Six of these applications were authorised and one refused.
“None of these seven applications concerned a journalist, and the six applications were legally and appropriated authorised under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and were later the subject of Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office inspection in the usual way.
“Communications data is an important investigative tool. As the public would expect, Police Scotland investigates all allegations of information breaches.
“Police Scotland does not discuss the details of individual applications.”
How force hides behind weasel words
Police Scotland refused to tell one of their snooping targets that he had been a victim despite their action being slated by watchdogs.
Former detective Gerry Gallacher formally asked Police Scotland if his telephone information had been accessed after we revealed how the force’s Counter Corruption Unit had launched an investigation into our revelations about the Emma Caldwell investigation.
In August, we told how CCU detectives had been ordered to launch a probe into the source of our stories.
But, after Gallacher asked the force if they had accessed his phone data and for any information held on him by the unit, they told him: “I can confirm that based on the personal details supplied in your request, there is no information held by Police Scotland which the Chief Constable is required to supply under the provisions of the Data Protection Act.” Police are not required to reveal details of investigations if it might jeopardise an inquiry and routinely stonewall applications like Gallacher’s on those grounds.
Yesterday, Gallacher said: “I was not surprised when they refused to confirm this investigation. Sadly, anyone who has taken even a cursory interest in how the force has dealt with this scandal will not be surprised either.
“It was a chance to respond in a straightforward way to a straightforward request, an opportunity to admit, yes, we made a mistake.”
