Thursday, January 26, 2006
Police Are Abusing New "Sus" Laws.
Figures showed nearly 36,000 people were stopped and searched under the Government's anti-terror emergency powers last year.
The Act came into force in 2001, when 10,200 people were stopped.
The Terrorism Act allows police to stop and search people even without suspicion - something that campaigners say is a throwback to the notorious "sus" laws of the 1970s. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "This is almost worse than the sus laws. The police have the power to change the law of the land in whole parts of the country.''
I remember the notorious and hated "sus" laws back then, widely abused by the police until abolition in 1981.
Unsurprisingly, the Terrorism Act is being widely abused now, and campaigners are mounting a legal challenge in the House of Lords in an attempt to limit the laws giving police sweeping powers to stop people even if they have no grounds to suspect them of a crime.
See all recent posts.
The Act came into force in 2001, when 10,200 people were stopped.
The Terrorism Act allows police to stop and search people even without suspicion - something that campaigners say is a throwback to the notorious "sus" laws of the 1970s. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "This is almost worse than the sus laws. The police have the power to change the law of the land in whole parts of the country.''
I remember the notorious and hated "sus" laws back then, widely abused by the police until abolition in 1981.
Unsurprisingly, the Terrorism Act is being widely abused now, and campaigners are mounting a legal challenge in the House of Lords in an attempt to limit the laws giving police sweeping powers to stop people even if they have no grounds to suspect them of a crime.
See all recent posts.
© Colcam 2005-2007
