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The police's comment at the end shows that they no longer regard stop and search as anti terrorist powers but part of every day policing. Searching people for no reason other than targets or the fact the officer feels like it is bad enough, but in this case the targets of the stop and search were children.
The spiralling abuse of these powers shows the result of what happens when you give people broad unregulated powers. The Labour government has already stated that it's policy is to wait till the horse has bolted before locking the stable door when the Home Secretary said that they would regulated the abuse of the police car tracking system (using every cctv camera in the country) when it happened. With little concern for the fact that it it has already happened by that point.
This attitude has been prevalent with the current government, providing more and more power with little or no regulation.
The Magistrates Association is up in arms at government plans to give police the power to give instant fines (3 points and a criminal conviction on you record) for 'Dangerous Driving' allowing them to be both jury and sentencer. What constitutes dangerous driving can vary widely, and be effected by the mood and attitude. This will have 2 side effects, more fines will be given out as it saves the police the time and paperwork of going to court and people will end up with a criminal conviction with out realising it. In court you can get as much as a £5000 fine and 9 points, so for the worst cases they will be too lenient, and for milder cases they will be too strict.
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The government has plans for another 21 offences to be dealt with in this way, but they have been delayed for further consultation - something the government has a habit of ignoring anyway if it goes against their plans.
Paul Holmes the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman pointed out that
"The police have been given wide-ranging powers without adequate debate."
Note that it is the Liberal Democrats commenting not the Conservatives, who them selves have been frequently known to increase police power rather than curtail it.
This is becoming a serious issue as Britain becomes more and more a police state, we can only hope that the Liberal Democrats are successful enough at the next election to have some say in fixing the situation.
The spiralling abuse of these powers shows the result of what happens when you give people broad unregulated powers. The Labour government has already stated that it's policy is to wait till the horse has bolted before locking the stable door when the Home Secretary said that they would regulated the abuse of the police car tracking system (using every cctv camera in the country) when it happened. With little concern for the fact that it it has already happened by that point.
This attitude has been prevalent with the current government, providing more and more power with little or no regulation.
The Magistrates Association is up in arms at government plans to give police the power to give instant fines (3 points and a criminal conviction on you record) for 'Dangerous Driving' allowing them to be both jury and sentencer. What constitutes dangerous driving can vary widely, and be effected by the mood and attitude. This will have 2 side effects, more fines will be given out as it saves the police the time and paperwork of going to court and people will end up with a criminal conviction with out realising it. In court you can get as much as a £5000 fine and 9 points, so for the worst cases they will be too lenient, and for milder cases they will be too strict.
Link
The government has plans for another 21 offences to be dealt with in this way, but they have been delayed for further consultation - something the government has a habit of ignoring anyway if it goes against their plans.
Paul Holmes the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman pointed out that
"The police have been given wide-ranging powers without adequate debate."
Note that it is the Liberal Democrats commenting not the Conservatives, who them selves have been frequently known to increase police power rather than curtail it.
This is becoming a serious issue as Britain becomes more and more a police state, we can only hope that the Liberal Democrats are successful enough at the next election to have some say in fixing the situation.
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