The government is lifting restrictions on police powers to stop and search areas where violent crime is expected, the interior minister said.
In a letter to police on Monday, Priti Patel outlined easing the conditions for using tactics under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.
Powers under section 60 give officers the right to search people without reasonable grounds in an area when they expect serious violence and to look for weapons before they can be used, or those used in a recent attack.
The restrictions were introduced in 2014 by then-Interior Minister Theresa May.
Stopping and search tactics are controversial due to fears that they disproportionately affect black and minority ethnic communities, with campaign groups previously warning that easing restrictions could increase discrimination.
The changes extend the term of office from 15 to 24 hours. The period until which section 60 can be extended is now 48 hours, previously 39 hours.
The rank at which officers may authorize the deployment of a stop and search has been lowered by a senior inspector officer, while the superintendent may now extend the authorization.
Authorizing officers now only need to anticipate that serious violence ‘may’ and not ‘will’, and it is no longer necessary to make public authorizations to the public in advance.
Patel said: “The devastating impact of knife crimes on families who have lost a loved one is unbearable. No one should tolerate the pain and suffering of the victims of these horrific crimes, and we have a responsibility to do our utmost to prevent future tragedies. “
She said the use of braking and demand has increased by about 85% since 2019 and has contributed to the removal of 50,000 weapons from the streets.
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Patel added: “I stand wholeheartedly behind the police so that they can build on their work to reduce crime with a knife, making it easier for officers to use these powers to confiscate more weapons, arrest more suspects and save more. lives.
Weyman Bennett, co-organizer of Stand Up To Racism, told the Guardian that this “draconian action” would lead to “unnecessary conflict.” “The restrictions were introduced because two police reports found that there was indiscriminate use [of stop and search] against black communities. “Our civil rights have been undermined and thrown in the trash by Priti Patel,” he said.
The move coincides with the start of Operation Scepter, a week of intense action by all police forces in England and Wales to tackle knife crime.
The government has also launched a consultation to make it easier for officials to search for known knife holders.
This comes after the introduction of serious violence reduction orders under the controversial law on police, crime, convictions and courts, passed last month, aimed at facilitating these inspections.
The Ministry of Interior lifted the restrictions on tactics under section 60 in 2019 as part of an attempt to tackle knife crimes.
An independent police conduct (IOPC) report last month called for a review of the use of stop and search powers to address the disproportionate impact of the measures on ethnic minority groups.
In the year to March 2021, blacks were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by whites, while Asians were twice as likely.
The IOPC report cites allegations that one child was stopped 60 times. The Guardian reported that the teenage man was sometimes searched several times on the same day for two years, starting in 2018, when he was 14 years old.
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