Most questions about AI in investigative work are questions of local policy. Which tool, which classification, which approval. Those answers differ from organisation to organisation and your own policy governs. These six do not differ. They hold regardless of platform, licence or local policy, because they go to the integrity of the investigation itself rather than to how your organisation has chosen to configure its software. 1. Write your RIPA reasoning A necessity and prop

In 27 July 2026 the Investigatory Powers Tribunal handed down its open judgment in LMN and XYZ v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary [2026] UKIPTrib 5. The complaints failed, but the reasoning matters to every Applicant, Authorising Officer and Gatekeeper. The facts in brief A long-running dispute between neighbours, with allegations going both ways. In March 2021 a directed surveillance authorisation was granted. A covert camera was fixed to a fence in the neig

By Bob Denaro (KPM) @ the BDG Training Team · July 2026 Repeated or systematic online monitoring of a person or group can amount to directed surveillance requiring RIPA authorisation, even when the information is publicly available. Open source intelligence (OSINT) and Internet Intelligence & Investigations (3III) cover the use of internet resources to gather information, intelligence and evidence, including overt and covert tactics to access closed areas, gather metadata, an