Thursday, February 01, 2007
John Reid - The Policeman's Flunky.
"If the basis for making such a significant
change is what police officers want or think they might need
then we would have five or 10 years' pre-charge detention."
Home secretary John ‘fit for police purposes’ Reid slipped in a controversial old idea at a cabinet meeting today while everyones attention was focussed on the police grilling of Tony Blair.
He announced, while hoping no-one was listening, that he would attempt to re-introduce longer detention without charge for terror suspects, presently set at 28 days.
The government were defeated in 2005 when they tried to have the time a suspect could be held extended to 90 days.
Home Secretary John Reid
A spokesman said: "The police service has now concluded that it is right and proper for government to address this issue and wanted the home secretary to discuss it with colleagues in government and more widely, with a view to seeing whether a consensus can be achieved.“
One might be forgiven for thinking, with Tony Blair’s authority practically gone, the police are now running the government and deciding on legislation.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said the "dangerous" move would become a tool for terrorist recruiting sergeants.
"Further extension to pre-charge detention will be completely counter-productive."
She added: "If the basis for making such a significant change is what police officers want or think they might need then we would have five or 10 years' pre-charge detention."
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Labels: NuLab, Police, Politics, Terrorism
© Colcam 2005-2007
