Telephone tapping and mail-opening figures 1937-2002 (Compiled by Statewatch)

The chart below gives the figures for the number of warrants issued for telephone tapping and mail-opening issued for the period 1937-2002 in England and Wales; the warrants issued by the Secretary of State for Scotland between 1967-2002; and the number issued by the Foreign Secretary between 1980-1984. Some general observations can be made on the figures for England and Wales. 1) 1955 was the first year that the number of warrants issued for telephone-tapping was greater than those for mail-opening; 2) The record number of warrants issued in 1940 a total of 1,682 was exceeded for the first time in 1998 with 1,763 warrants being issued and in 2001 rose to: 3,102 3) The high number of warrants between 1939-1941 is clearly attributable to the beginning of the Second World War; the rise in 1948 to the beginning of the Cold War and strikes, the post-war low point of 238 total warrants was in 1958 with the rise between 1971-1975 being due to industrial action combined with Cold War paranoia. 4) The total number of warrants was pretty steady in the 400’s from 1976 until 1991. 5) A major change was introduced in 1998 and further changes in the recording methods with the introduction of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) on 2 October 2000. A major change in July 1998 stripped out the number of warrants which are “modified” (ie: a new address or phone number is needed) which previously required a new warrant to be issued. Thus in order to present historically comparative figures the number of “modifications” needs to be added to the number of initial warrants issued. The new charts below bring together the total figures for England, Wales and Scotland to reflect these changes. No figures have ever been issued for Northern Ireland. In future we will list the following: 1) The overall figures for England, Wales and Scotland (warrants plus “modifications”) – Table 1 2) The number of warrants issued for England and Wales (excluding “modifications”) – Table 2 3) The number of warrants issued for Scotland (including “modifications”) – Table 3 Table 1: England, Wales and Scotland – Year Interception warrants Modifications Total 1990 581 – 518 1991 815 – 815 1992 966 – 966 1993 1,120 – 1,120 1994 1,047 – 1,047 1995 1,135 – 1,135 1996 1,370 – 1,370 1997 1,712 – 1,712 1998 2,031 172 2,203 1999 2,022 565 2,587 2000 1,900 722 2,622 2001 1,445 1,982 3,427 2002 1,605 2,143 3,748 Table 2: England & Wales Telephone tapping warrants Mail opening warrants Total 1937 17 556 573 1938 20 710 730 1939 29 973 1,002 1940 125 1,557 1,682 1941 180 862 1,042 1942 164 514 678 1943 126 329 455 1944 102 213 315 1945 56 90 146 1946 73 139 212 1947 110 190 300 1948 103 870 973 1949 133 641 774 1950 179 356 535 1951 177 486 663 1952 173 462 635 1953 202 459 661 1954 222 227 449 1955 241 205 446 1956 159 183 342 1957 n/a n/a n/a 1958 129 109 238 1959 159 101 260 1960 195 110 305 1961 183 75 258 1962 242 96 338 1963 270 128 398 1964 253 120 373 1965 299 93 392 [1] 1966 318 139 457 1967 307 92 399 1968 333 83 416 1969 377 93 470 1970 395 104 499 1971 418 86 504 1972 413 95 508 1973 424 73 497 1974 436 93 529 1975 468 93 561 1976 410 62 472 1977 407 84 491 1978 428 44 472 1979 411 52 463 1980 414 39 453 [2] 1981 402 46 448 1982 379 54 433 1983 372 53 415 1984 352 39 391 1985 403 40 443 1986 573 95 668 [3] 1987 438 34 472 1988 412 48 460 1989 427 31 458 1990 473 42 515 1991 670 62 732 1992 756 118 874 1993 893 105 998 1994 871 76 947 1995 910 87 997 1996 1,073 69 1,142 1997 1.391 65 1,456 1998 1,646 117 1,763 1999 1,645 89 1,734 2000 1,559 49 1,608 2001 1,314 [4] – 1,314 2002 1,466 [4] – 1,466 [1] This figure is wrongly given as 382 in Cmnd. 7873 [2] Cmnd 9438 states in the figures between 1980-1984 excludes warrants issued under the 1920 Official Se