Telephone tapping figures 1937-1990
01 January 1991
Telephone tapping figures 1937-1990
bacdoc October=1991
This document includes the figures for the number of warrants
issued for telephone tapping and mail-opening issued by the Home
Secretary for the period 1937-1990 in England and Wales; the
warrants issued by the Secretary of State for Scotland between
1967-1990; and the number issued by the Foreign Secretary between
1980-1984.
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ENGLAND and WALES 1937-1990
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YEAR TELEPHONES LETTERS TOTAL
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1937 17 556 573
1938 20 710 730
1939 29 973 1002
1940 125 1557 1682
1941 180 862 1042
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 43 415
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
[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 Secrets Act.
[3] The Report of the Commissioner for 1998 states in para.6 that
the high figure for this year "is explained by the need to
replace all the outstanding non-statutory warrants when the
new Act came into force".
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SCOTLAND
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YEAR TELEPHONES LETTERS TOTAL
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1967 3 - 3
1968 10 - 10
1969 8 - 8
1970 14 - 14
1971 10 2 12
1972 15 - 15
1973 20 - 20
1974 33 5 38
1975 41 - 41
1976 41 - 41
1977 52 3 55
1978 42 - 42
1979 56 - 56
1980 50 - 50
1981 49 - 49
1982 79 2 81
1983 53 1 54
1984 71 4 75
1985 59 9 68
1986 84 4 88 [1]
1987 54 3 57
1988 54 5 59
1989 63 1 64
1990 66 2 66
[1] The Report of the Commissioner for 1998 states in para.6
that the high figure for this year "is explained by the