Lord Carlile–Parliament’s Independent Review of certain Terrorism Legislation–has published a report in which he accuses police of balancing racial stop-and-search statistics. His report [pdf] makes the following points on the matter:
I believe that it is totally wrong for any person to be stopped in order to produce a racial balance in the section 44 statistics. There is ample anecdotal evidence that this is happening. I can well understand the concerns of the police that they should be free from allegations of prejudice; but it is not a good use of precious resources if they waste them on self-evidently unmerited searches. It is also an invasion of the civil liberties of the person who has been stopped, simply to ‘balance’ the statistics. The
criteria for section 44 stops should be objectively based, irrespective of racial considerations: if an objective basis happens to produce an ethnic imbalance, that may have to be regarded as a proportional consequence of operational policing. [c. 141]
Essentially, Lord Carlile is accusing police of stopping and searching–presumable those of White British appearance–to counteract an ethnic imbalance. The above comments are strong and Lord Carlile’s stance on the invasion of civil liberties are to be applauded.
Another example of the routine misuse of laws is also criticised in the police’s usage of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act (2000). In short, Section 44 allows anyone in a specific geographic area decided by the police to be stopped and searched. Usually a suspicion is needed to search someone; Section 44 removes this need for suspicion and renders anyone liable to being searched.
The police have now designated whole areas of the country–the Met has designated the whole of Greater London–and can use this arbitrary power. On this, Lord Carlile says:
I now feel a sense of frustration that the Metropolitan Police still does not limit their section 44 authorisations to some boroughs only, or parts of boroughs, rather than to the entire force area. I cannot see a justification for the whole of the Greater London area being covered permanently, and the intention of the section was not to place London under permanent special search powers. [c. 147]
He goes on to state between 8,000 and 10,000 stop and searches are performed using this power each month as we entered 2009.
Another interesting discussion took place in report concerning amendments made to the Terrorism Act (2000) by the Counter Terrorism Act (2008). Specifically the concerns of amateur photographers:
A number of professional and amateur photographers have approached me to complain that this provision is being used to threaten them with prosecution if they take photographs of police officers on duty. In one case a correspondent informed me that a police officer used the section to force him to delete from his camera a photograph of a police officer on traffic duty, in circumstances in which the member of the public had a legitimate reason for taking the photograph in connection with his own impending traffic case.
It should be emphasised that photography of the police by the media or amateurs remains as legitimate as before, unless the photograph is likely to be of use to a terrorist. This is a high bar. It is inexcusable for police officers ever to use this provision to interfere with the rights of individuals to take photographs. The police must adjust to the undoubted fact that the scrutiny of them by members of the public is at least proportional to any increase in police powers – given the ubiquity of photograph and video enabled mobile phones. Police officers who use force or threaten force in this context run the real risk of being prosecuted themselves for one or more of several possible criminal and disciplinary offences. [c. 196 & 197]
You’d do well to remember the taxi driver that videoed a man’s electrocution ceased after he was told stop by the police.
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