Former MI5 chief accuses ministers of interfering with people’s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists

Dame Stella Rimmington accused ministers of interfering with people’s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists.

“Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people’s privacy,” Dame Stella said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper.

“It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state,” she said.

When the former head of Britain's spy agency is expressing concerns about people's privacy then I think we really have come too far!

There have always been criminals and terrorists, we already had perfectly adequate laws to deal with them but the government has forgotten that we have been policed by consent over the years, the police and security services have worked with the community to tackle crime, now the police and security services are working against the community with the assumption that we are all suspects. Well, surprise surprise, when the people are treated as suspects and on opposite sides to the police, they start acting the part and see the police as enemies to be fought rather than allies to support.

Much of the lawlessness and 'anti social behaviour' is directly due to the activities of the state in trying to control us, when people feel disempowered and having to always refer to 'experts' or ask for permission then they stop functioning as a community and stop self policing, result - more crime, less support for the police.

READ MORE at:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4643415/Spy-chief-We-risk-a-police-state.html
http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/2009/02/well-said-dame-stella.html