UK: Police to be granted stop and search freedom

[MaverickNH]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/01/30/nsearch230.xml

"Gordon Brown said a review of current powers would be made public next week, but promised it would lead to a reduction in the bureaucracy which police complain often makes them reluctant to pull suspects over...In just one police area in one year, they had to fill in 79,000 forms - that is 9,216 hours of valuable police time. The Prime Minister [said]: "Under this Government we are taking action to reduce bureaucracy in the police."

At first I thought the Brits were backsliding even more on personal rights and freedoms, but then I considered all the rights and freedoms 'temporarilly relinquished' after 9-11 in the US.

Either way, for a country that claims to have vastly diminished crime by essentially banning firearms, one wonders why the police need to have more power to stop and search people for weapons without reasonable cause. Interesting they that rightout say they would be stopping & searching more blacks and asians, as there is more crimes in those racial populations.

 

[gene]

In specific high gun and knife crime areas officers are already allowed to stop and search with fewer constraints. But ministers want this rolled out to other parts of the country.

I thought they banned guns It's just amazing to me how many people are willing to sacrifice their liberty for safety. Here is another example of where they don't see the problem as one of open borders with Muslims, Indians and Pakastani's over the years going to England in droves. They created their own problems and now look the other way in solving them.

 

[JimB]

may be coming soon

If Juan Nccain gets in we're gonna have the same problem on the
same scale as they do.

JimBN

 

[Garys]

British police have been complaining for several years that they don't do police work, they do paper work. In addition, the Home Office has instructed police to make fewer arrests and issue more "cautions", even for violent crimes. The government claims that all of their surveillance cameras will reduce and help solve crime. I think the average London resident is taped something like 300 times a day. Not that it's help as violent crime in London is increasing at an incredible rate.

Gary

 

[JonJ]

I got from the article that they are freeing up the officers from mandatory reporting of encounters. It didn't appear that the were giving the police more power to stop and search people.
2 or so years ago we were mandated to fill out a form for every motor vehicle encounter. They were trying to come up with stats that showed the police were picking on minorities. That witch hunt was started by convicted felon State Senator, Her Dishonorable Dianne Wilkerson. Don't know what happened to the stats. When the program stopped we were never anymore about it.

 

[Erebus]

It's just amazing to me how many people are willing to sacrifice their liberty for perceived safety.

There fixed it for ya.

Well that's one of the benefits of living in a country where you are a subject and not a citizen, you don't have rights that can get in the way when the police are hassling everyone.

 

[Garys]

2 or so years ago we were mandated to fill out a form for every motor vehicle encounter. They were trying to come up with stats that showed the police were picking on minorities. That witch hunt was started by convicted felon State Senator, Her Dishonorable Dianne Wilkerson. Don't know what happened to the stats. When the program stopped we were never anymore about it.

I didn't know that this had stopped. Maybe only some departments still have to do them. Funny how you have to racially profile to prove that you aren't racially profiling.

Gary

 

[JonJ]

I didn't know that this had stopped. Maybe only some departments still have to do them. Funny how you have to racially profile to prove that you aren't racially profiling.

Gary

It did with us. Maybe there are some other departments still doing it?

 

[Garys]

It did with us. Maybe there are some other departments still doing it?

I think so. I seem to remember hearing something on the scanner about the 2008 books having an orange cover. I don't remember the agency or the context, though.

Stupid liberal do gooders, aided by stupid professors of criminal justice from Northeastern.

Gary