CH207520 - How to do a compliance check: establishing the facts: covert surveillance: levels of covert activity
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<p>There are three levels of covert activity:</p><ul><li>basic fact check: no authorisation needed</li><li>covert surveillance to observe business activity: authorised officer agreement needed </li><li>directed surveillance likely to result in obtaining private information about a person: authorised officer agreement and Directed Surveillance Authority (DSA) needed.</li></ul><h2>Basic fact check - not surveillance</h2><p>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.</p><h2>Covert surveillance to observe business activity</h2><ul><li>Repeated walk by, drive by or visit to a business to monitor, for example, opening times</li><li>Test purchases</li><li>Test eats</li><li>Observing cash handling procedures</li><li>Counting staff and customers</li><li>Observing how customers pay. </li></ul><h2>Directed surveillance</h2><ul><li>Taking descriptions</li><li>Recording conversations</li><li>Monitoring a person’s movements and activities.</li></ul><p>(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)</p>