‘SNOOPING’ techniques are now almost never used by Bradford Council to catch criminals, despite having been used heavily in the past, a meeting has heard.

The use of covert surveillance has dropped dramatically in recent years because of public pressure and increasingly tight rules.

Local councils can use hidden cameras, informants, undercover officers and data surveillance to try to catch criminals, but must do so under complex legislation called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).

Bradford Council’s governance and audit committee this week held an annual review into how the authority uses ‘snooping’ techniques to catch criminals.

The committee heard that while the council does prosecute dozens of rogue landlords, flytippers and other offenders each year, the vast majority of its investigation work is now done openly.

Only one authorisation has been given for covert surveillance in the past three years, council records show.

This was to investigate a major meat fraud case in 2013/14, the meeting heard.

Since 2012, local authorities have been barred from using covert surveillance to investigate minor crimes such as dog fouling and littering.

Richard Winter, the council’s RIPA co-ordinator, said: “There were years when there were hundreds of authorisations for covert surveillance. We have moved on as a local authority, as indeed have all local authorities.”

But committee member Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley), questioned whether there were now too many restrictions in place, saying it was “starting to become a bit of a joke amongst members”.

She said requests to use covert techniques took a very long time to be decided, and asked whether this was putting people off applying altogether.

She said: “There just appears to be an enormous amount of red tape tying up nothing.”

Mr Winter acknowledged there was a lot of red tape but said it was “unavoidable”.

The meeting heard that under RIPA, the police or the Government could also ask the council to point its public CCTV cameras in certain directions to hone in on criminal activity.

This has been authorised 23 times over the past year - with 22 requests coming from the police and one from the Department for Work and Pensions.

The authority has to undergo an external inspection every three years into whether it is complying with the RIPA rules, and the next one is due this October, the meeting heard.