Britain’s Home Secretary reins in power of police to search people in name of anti-terrorism

UK reins in police power to stop, search people

LONDON — Britain announced on Thursday that it was imposing stricter rules on police using counterterrorism powers to stop and search people, following a European court ruling that those powers violated individual freedoms.

Home Secretary Theresa May told lawmakers that police will no longer be allowed to search individuals unless they “reasonably suspect” them of being a terrorist.

“The first duty of government is to protect the public but that duty must never be used as a reason to ride roughshod over our civil liberties,” May said.

The European Court of Human rights had ruled that the power to search anyone without suspicion, granted to police under Britain’s 2000 Terrorism Act, was illegal.

The court said the powers were drawn too broadly when they were authorized and lacked sufficient safeguards to protect civil liberties.

That ruling followed a case brought by two Britons who had been stopped and questioned by police near an arms fair in London in 2003. Police found nothing incriminating on them, and they went to court questioning the legality of police powers.

British courts ruled that police acted legally given the risk of terrorism in London, but the human rights court concluded that the pair’s rights were violated and awarded them 30,000 pounds ($48,000) to cover legal costs.

Civil rights groups and protesters have long criticized police powers, saying police often misuse the law to stop people from carrying out legitimate activities like participating in demonstrations. Some Muslims have also complained that police use counterterrorism powers to unfairly target ethnic minorities.

Alan Johnson, May’s predecessor in the Labour government, expressed concern that the new rules will restrict police abilities to protect the public. He highlighted the potential impact on police in Northern Ireland, saying there had been terrorist murders there this year.

“The statement today will undoubtedly make their job more difficult,” he said.

Rights campaigners, however, welcomed the news.

The stop and search powers had “criminalized and alienated more people than it ever protected,” said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the London-based organization Liberty.

“To our knowledge, it has never helped catch a single terrorist,” she said.

Alex Carlile, the government’s independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation, agreed. He said “stop and search” had not been effective in preventing terrorism, and instead had created community tensions.