UK police say no to draconian powers

Press Esc
Jun. 03, 2007

Britain's police force yesterday declared that the new draconian ‘stop and question’ counter-terrorism powers were "unnecessary" arguing that such measures were counter-productive as they eroded the public trust in the police.

“If we want to set back community-police relations and return to the bad old days of the ‘sus’ laws of the ‘70s and ‘80s, when levels of mistrust between police and public were at record highs and had drastic consequences, then the introduction of a new blank cheque power to stop and question anyone, anywhere, anytime without reasonable grounds for suspicion, is a very quick way of achieving this," Len Duvall, chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said. “Neither the Metropolitan Police Authority nor the Metropolitan Police Service have called for this power because we understand the serious damage it could cause to the police’s relationship with London’s communities."

"We have all worked hard to build mutual trust, cooperation, respect and understanding between police and the people they serve. Do we really want to jeopardise this by introducing powers that set us back 30 years?" Duvall questioned.

Under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, Police can already stop and search anyone without having to demonstrated ‘reasonable grounds," but under the proposed new regulations a police officer can ask that individual who they are or where they are going, and withholding such information is an offense punishable with a Ł5,000 fine.

“While the MPA recognises the need to use all available tools to prevent terrorism, we are determined these tools should be as transparent and publicly accountable as possible,” Duvall added.