Civil liberties victory over stop and search as police powers are reined in

By James Slack, Home Affairs Editor

Police were yesterday stripped of the widely abused power to stop and search innocent people in the street without any suspicion of wrongdoing.

In a signal victory for civil liberties, Home Secretary Theresa May declared that Section 44 of the Terrorism Act  -  recently ruled illegal by the European courts  -  could no longer be used against members of the public.

The decision was criticised by former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who said it would ‘clearly restrict’ the powers of the police to deal with potential dangermen.

Senior police are likely to complain that, with officer numbers certain to be slashed by Home Office budget cuts, this is the wrong time to make their jobs harder.

Stricter controls: Police will not be allowed to stop and search individuals unless they ‘reasonably suspect’ them of being a terrorist (file picture)

Police must now have ‘ reasonable suspicion’ to search a suspect, but that requires greater intelligence gathering  -  which means more bodies on the street  -  and anti-terrorist officers have already warned the budget cuts will make the task of combating Al Qaeda harder.

But Mrs May said: ‘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.’

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