THE GUARDIAN: Police forced to abandon power to stop and search the public without reasonable suspicion after European court rules it illegal
The police's use of controversial counterterrorism stop and search powers against individuals is to be scrapped immediately, the home secretary announced today.
Under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, officers can stop and search anyone in a designated area without having to show reasonable suspicion. Interim operational guidelines to be issued to the police say that in future section 44 powers will be used only to search vehicles, and officers will have to have grounds for suspecting they are being used in connection with terrorism.
Section 44 stop and search powers were used on more than 148,798 occasions last year and have been a key element in the campaign against terrorism.
The home secretary's decision to scrap their use against individuals follows a ruling by the European court of human rights in January that the powers were unlawful because they were too broadly drawn and lacked sufficient safeguards to protect civil liberties.
The Strasbourg case was brought by peace protester Kevin Gillan and a journalist, Pennie Quinton, who were unlawfully abused when police stopped and searched them on their way to a demonstration outside the annual Excel centre arms fair in east London in 2003.
In an unexpected statement to the Commons today, May said she had taken urgent legal advice and consulted the police since the Strasbourg ruling was confirmed as final last Wednesday. "In order to comply with the judgment, but avoid pre-empting the review of counter-terrorism legislation, I have decided to introduce interim guidelines for the police," the home secretary told the Commons.
"I am therefore changing the test for authorisation for the use of section 44 powers from requiring a search to be 'expedient' for the prevention of terrorism, to the stricter test of it being 'necessary' for that purpose. And, most importantly, I am introducing a new suspicion threshold." >>> Alan Travis, home affairs editor | Thursday, July 08, 2010
