Anti-terror powers could hit police

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Increased use of anti-terror powers risk turning people against the police, ministers have been warned. Many more people are being stopped and searched since the suicide bomb attacks in London on July 7, a BBC survey reveals.
Over half the forces that responded said more people had been stopped in the past three months than the previous year. Officers do not have to demonstrate "reasonable suspicion" to carry out a search under the Terrorism Act 2000.

When Walter Wolfgang tried to re-enter the Labour Party conference he was detained under Section 44 of the Act. Sussex police accept it was a mistake but critics say the BBC's findings suggest it is being widely misused. Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, said: "These powers should be used sparingly and be intelligence-led. "If the numbers of searches continue to increase at this rate it will create tensions in communities, and could turn the public against the police."

Eighteen out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales provided recent figures for stop and searches. Some forces like Cumbria and Devon and Cornwall have not used the powers at all while others have seen massive increases. In Hampshire, home to many military bases, officers stopped more than 4,400 pedestrians and vehicles since July 7 compared with just 700 in 2003-4. On Humberside there were just four searches in 2003-4 but police have carried out 1,830 in the past three months.

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