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Police stop and search forms to be scrapped

31/ 1/2008

RED tape which forces police to fill in a form every time they stop someone in the street is to be scrapped.
Gordon Brown is expected to allow officers to carry out more checks based on suspicion rather than specific intelligence in a new bid to tackle growing gun and knife crime. The paperwork {ndash} which includes a foot-long form  was introduced after the inquiry into the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

It has proved unpopular with officers and is expected to be ditched for `stops', but  not for full stop-and-searches.
But critics argue they are a backwards step which will further alienate black and Asian communities.
So-called `sus laws', which allowed police to stop people they thought looked suspicious, were scrapped in the 80s  after race riots in Manchester, Liverpool and London, amid claims black youths were being singled out. Details of the new plans will be given to MPs next week by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

It is expected police will be allowed to use tape recorders during stops instead of having to fill out a form.
Borough commanders are likely to get powers to make gun crime hotspots `stop-and-search' zones where anybody can be frisked.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown refused to comment on rumours that overall stop-and-search rules will be relaxed.

But Tory leader David Cameron said chief inspector of policing Sir Ronnie Flanagan had suggested a review of bureaucracy associated with the foot-long form. Mr Cameron dubbed the paperwork a `colossal waste of police time'.

 Figures revealed last year show that black people are seven times more likely to be stopped while Asians are twice as likely.

Manchester-based communities expert Professor Gus John said told the new laws were a `retrograde step'.
He said: "Stop-and-searches should always be based on intelligence and any relaxing of police powers would be wholly alienating for those communities already more likely to be stopped.

"The actions of a small number of people should not be allowed to compromise the liberties of the wider population. The `sus laws' were horrendous, and resulted in the criminalisation of a lot of young people."

The Islamic Rights Commission has said a relaxing of powers could risk a return to the `bad old days'.
But the Police Federation welcomed the idea of greater  discretion for officers.
Chairman Jan Berry said: "It should be left up to officers whether or not they record `stop-and-encounters' (the official term for incidents in which police halt a member of the public without searching them).

"Recording stop-and-search is different  as it involves contact with people, but common sense should prevail as to how much detail is required to be recorded."