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No terror arrests from stop-and-search, says government | |
(40 minutes later) | |
Not one person stopped and searched under anti-terrorism powers in Britain was arrested for terrorism-related offences last year, figures show. | Not one person stopped and searched under anti-terrorism powers in Britain was arrested for terrorism-related offences last year, figures show. |
The Home Office statistics also showed no terror suspects had been held in custody before charge for longer than 14 days since 2007. | The Home Office statistics also showed no terror suspects had been held in custody before charge for longer than 14 days since 2007. |
In all, 101,248 people were stopped and searched in England, Wales and Scotland under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. | In all, 101,248 people were stopped and searched in England, Wales and Scotland under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. |
Of the 506 arrests that resulted, none was terrorism-related. | Of the 506 arrests that resulted, none was terrorism-related. |
Since July, police are not allowed to stop and search people unless they "reasonably suspect" them of being a terrorist. | Since July, police are not allowed to stop and search people unless they "reasonably suspect" them of being a terrorist. |
Of all the searches, four out of five were made in the Metropolitan Police area, with almost a fifth being made by British Transport Police. | |
Overall, 59% described themselves as white, 17% as Asian or Asian British, 10% as black or black British and 2% as of mixed ethnicity, the figures showed. | |
They also showed the use of stop and search powers fell by 60% compared with 2008-09. | |
The latest figures are likely to raise questions about the future of controversial powers which allow police to detain terror suspects for between 14 and 28 days before charging them. | |
Detention and stop and search powers are being looked at as part of a review of the government's counter-terrorism policy by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Ken Macdonald, whose findings are due to be published shortly. | |
It involves police, spies, public officials and campaigners, and will also focus on control orders, deportation of terror suspects and the use of surveillance by local authorities. | |
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said the statistics highlighted what a "crude and blunt instrument" stop-and-search had been. | |
"It costs us dearly in race equality and consent-based policing with very little return in terms of enhanced security," she added. | |
Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, which campaigns against intrusions into privacy, said the figures were not surprising. | |
"Rather than a genuine counter-terrorism tool, random stop-and-search has been a way of bullying and hassling our increasingly abject population," he added. | |
"We have to decide what kind of society we want to live in. Random stop-and-search allows the state to confront the individual in the street, without cause, and demand your papers. It's wrong." |
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