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Police activate stop and search powers for Notting Hill carnival Police activate stop and search powers for Notting Hill carnival
(about 2 hours later)
Police will have the power to stop and search people at the Notting Hill carnival as they try to to crack down on violence. Thousands of police officers at Notting Hill carnival have been given the power to stop and search people without the need for reasonable suspicion, with police chiefs fearing serious violence.
Scotland Yard said it would be imposing a section 60 order across the carnival’s geographical area between 9am and 11.59pm on Sunday. The Metropolitan police said on Sunday that the whole of the carnival area in west London will be covered by a section 60 order. They say it is based on intelligence in recents days.
The order allows officers to search people if they believe they may be carrying offensive weapons or in anticipation of violence. Section 60 is a controversial power which critics say gives police draconian powers and can lead to the disproportionate targeting of African-Caribbean people.
Notting Hill carnival gold commander Dave Musker said: “The MPS has worked tirelessly to develop an appropriate and proportionate policing plan; however, given the intelligence picture and incidents of violence I have seen across the city over the last week, I have made the decision to authorise this order as an additional preventative measure. The order will last all of Sunday, the first day of the carnival, which is children’s day. It is highly likely it will be imposed on Monday also, the busiest day of the two-day event.
“The use of this authority will reassure our communities that we are constantly working to protect them. It will also send a message to those intent on committing acts of violence that we will robustly target them.” Commander Dave Musker, in charge of the policing operation, said: “The MPS has worked tirelessly to develop an appropriate and proportionate policing plan; however, given the intelligence picture and incidents of violence I have seen across the city over the last week, I have made the decision to authorise this order as an additional preventative measure.
He added: “I have not made this decision lightly, but with the safety and security of all those planning to attend this event in the forefront of my mind. I will personally keep this order under constant review, and when I believe this no longer forms part of a proportionate policing plan, it will cease.” “The use of this authority will reassure our communities that we are constantly working to protect them. It will also send a message to those intent on committing acts of violence that we will robustly target them.
The measure is part of a number of plans put in place by the force to help keep people safe at the carnival after a wave of violent crime in the capital in recent months. “Section 60s have been used tactically to prevent violence across London over the past few weeks and I can assure you they are not used without detailed analysis of intelligence.”
Knife arches are being installed for the first time, and will be placed at “strategic points” along the route of the west London street party. The relevant power is contained in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and means an officer does not need reasonable suspicion, and thus effectively lowers the level of suspicion needed to use the stop and search tactic. It is supposed to be a temporary measure.
It is hoped the “tried and tested” method will put off those planning to arm themselves with knives and offensive weapons but not everybody will be expected to pass through them, according to the Met. The law says an officer above the rank of inspector can impose the order if it is believed “that incidents involving serious violence may take place”.
The two-day event will also be policed by the highest number of officers in six years, with some 13,000 officers deployed – around 450 more than last year. It adds: “A constable may … stop any person or vehicle and make any search [s/]he thinks fit whether or not [s/]he has any grounds for suspecting that the person or vehicle is carrying weapons or articles of that kind.
Almost 7,000 officers, some from the Metropolitan police’s newly formed violent crime task force, will be policing the carnival on Monday to “combat the threat of violent crime”. “If in the course of a search under this section a constable discovers a dangerous instrument or an article which [s/]he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be an offensive weapon, [s/]he may seize it.”
This will be up from 6,100 on-duty officers on Sunday’s less busy family day. Police are using knife arches at the carnival for the first time, and declaring the carnival a section 60 area, makes it easier for someone who refuses to use an arch citing civil liberties grounds, to be stopped and searched.
Undercover police officers as well as officers from the force’s firearms and dog unit will be in place. Musker added: “I have not made this decision lightly, but with the safety and security of all those planning to attend this event in the forefront of my mind. I will personally keep this order under constant review, and when I believe this no longer forms part of a proportionate policing plan, it will cease.”
The event is expected to attract more than a million revellers to its floats, food stalls and music. Violent crime including knife attacks has risen in London this year and the number of homicides has reached 100 deaths.
The music is to stop for a 72-second silence in tribute to the 72 people who died following the fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017. Police are using a range of tactics at the carnival, with about 13,000 officer deployments across the two days of carnival, with 6,162 officers and staff on duty on Sunday and 6,858 on duty on Monday.
The tower block is within half a mile of the parade route. Some in the British African-Caribbean community feel the carnival is viewed differently than other large festivals because it is a black event.
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