Human Rights Watch: Stops and searches were damaging community relations
The Government will change with immediate effect how stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are used, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.
The move is in response to a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 amounted to a violation of the right to a private life.
The court said the powers were drawn too broadly and did not have enough safeguards to protect civil liberties. This means that the laws setting out the use of stop and search powers had to be repealed or amended to bring them in line with the European law.
The Home Secretary told the House of Commons: “I will not allow the continued use of section 44 in contravention of the European Court’s ruling and, more importantly, in contravention of the civil liberties of every one of us.”
She added that the new Government had been concerned about the use of section 44 powers “for some time.”
Interim guidance for the police has now been introduced which sets a new suspicion threshold. Officers will no longer be able to search individuals using section 44 powers. Instead they will have to rely on section 43 powers – which require officers to reasonably suspect the person to be a terrorist.
Police may search only vehicles under section 44 of the law, and then only if they have reasonable suspicion of terrorist activity.
The changes will bring the operation of counter-terrorism use of stop and search powers fully into line with the European Court’s judgment, while also ensuring that the public are protected.
Ms. May concluded: “The first duty of government is to protect the public. But that duty must never be used as a reason to ride roughshod over our civil liberties.”
Human Rights Watch: Stop and search power used improperly
Human Rights Watch strongly criticised the stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act in a report released in early July. "Without Suspicion: Stop and Search under the Terrorism Act 2000" revealed that despite almost 450,000 section 44 stops and searches throughout the United Kingdom between April 2007 and April 2009, no one was successfully prosecuted for a terrorism offense as a result.
Human Rights Watch's research indicated that the power was being used improperly - including to stop railway enthusiasts, photographers, and even children on the street.
Analysis of the stop-and-search statistics indicates that persons of South Asian origin and black people were more likely to be stopped than white people. This suggested that may be the police were engaging in ethnic profiling.
According to Human Rights Watch's report, there is anecdotal evidence that in some cases white people were being stopped specifically to balance the statistics, masking the extent to which ethnic minorities were being targeted.
The Human Rights Watch report concluded that section 44 stops and searches were damaging community relations, and undermining confidence in the police, especially in London where most of these searches occurred, and within Muslim communities.
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