Archive for May, 2017

Police Stop and Search Powers – A brief guide

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The police have various powers to stop and search individuals. When misused a person may later be able to pursue a complaint and/or civil claim against the police for false imprisonment, assault or breach of their human rights.

The main police stop and search powers are as follows:

S1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

This power can be used to stop anyone in a public place. A police officer can stop, detain and search a person or vehicle or anything in the vehicle for stolen or prohibited items. The police officer must have reasonable suspicion for suspecting they will find a prohibited item.  This stop and search power is frequently used by the police.

S23 Misuse of Drugs Act

The police often search individuals suspected of carrying drugs. Like the power under s1 of PACE, the police have to show that they have reasonable suspicion to suspect that a person is in possession of a controlled drug.

NOTE:  The police officer conducting the search is required to create a search record recording the object of the search, the grounds for making it, the date, time and place of conduct of the search and whether anything was found.  This search record or receipt should be provided at the scene but can also be obtained by the individual at a local police station.

NOTE: A police officer can ask an individual to remove outer clothing when conducting a search. If the police officer wants to remove more than outer clothing the search must be conducted by a person of the same sex. If an individual is asked to remove religious clothing e.g. a veil or turban, this must be done out of public view.

‘Stop and account’

This occurs when a person is approached by a police officer and asked to account for their behaviour, presence or any items in their possession. There is no law that allows police officers to require a person to ‘stop and account’ and an individual is not obliged to cooperate with the police. However, refusal to provide information may form grounds for reasonable suspicion to stop and search an individual under the statutory powers described above.

S60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

The police can stop and search any person or vehicle in a defined area within 24 hours without the need to establish reasonable suspicion. This power originally arose out of a need to tackle football hooliganism and is often used today to target low-level disorder, protests and knife crime.

Schedule 7 Terrorism Act 2000

The powers under the Terrorism Act allow ‘examining officers’ at ports and airports, to stop, question and detain individuals whom they suspect are involved in acts of terrorism, without the need for any reasonable suspicion.

Stopping motorists under the Road Traffic Act 1988

The police have the power to stop a vehicle for any reason and an individual will be committing a criminal offence if they fail to stop. A police officer can ask to see an individual’s driving licence, insurance documents or MOT certificate. If these documents are not provided at the time an individual must provide them to a police station within 7 days.

 

Taken from http://www.broudiejacksoncanter.co.uk/blog/2016/08/police-stop-and-search-powers-a-brief-guide

 

Institutional Racism Stretches From McKinney To The Met

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Written by Remi Joseph-Salisbury – orignally posted on Voice Online

POLICING LONDON: The Met is the subject of a BBC documentary

BY NOW you will have seen the video of Texas police officers aggressively rounding up black teens at pool party to which they were invited.

Those that haven’t can watch the chilling incident here:

Watching the video evokes imagery of a slave master rounding up his unruly slaves.

This is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that today’s police force emerged from slave patrols, and has since failed to account for its institutional racism.

Much as slaves of the past committed no offence, the only ‘offence’ committed here was to have the audacity to accept a party invitation.

The video that shows Eric Casebold throwing a teenage girl to the ground, drawing his gun on unarmed black teenagers and hurling a tirade of profanities (all while the white teenagers seemed invisible), drew widespread criticism; criticism that has, accompanied by some flimsy excuses from his attorney, led to his resignation.

Those moving to celebrate this resignation as the serving of racial justice should recognise that this is a move that allows the officer to retain his pension and benefits.
More importantly, as the problem is framed as one of the individual and his bizarre Power Ranger-style barrel role, this is a resignation that should be seen as an attempt for the police force to retain its reputation.

This incident should be viewed in its larger transatlantic social context; that is, as another racist incident in an interminable line of police brutalities and disproportionality.

Earlier this week the first episode in the BBC’s documentary about The Met Police saw the commissioner acknowledge the racism in his force – a good start.

Unfortunately, the documentary failed to show any meaningful attempts at reform.
Showing a force obsessed with managing its public image on racism, rather than its actual endemic racism, did little to restore faith.

This was epitomised by the showing of the black Haringey Borough Commissioner Victor Olisa struggling, rather robotically, to empathise with the black community.

His concerns seemed to be primarily with the black community not accepting him, rather than the widely criticised Mark Duggan inquest verdict.

The show saw a black youth being fined for cannabis possession, the response to a report of a ‘Somali male with a gun’ that resulted in officers finding only some gardening shears in a bin; an all-white panel discussing issues of race; and Stephen Greenhalgh, the deputy mayor for policing and crime in London, disrespecting, rather than listening to, the well-known black activist Lee Jasper.

The commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, was right to suggest that racism is a societal issue. Recent reports of calls to the police to report suspicious activities such as ‘walking whilst Black’ stand testament to this.

Hogan-Howe however needs not to use this to excuse his force, but to recognise the police’s central role in creating and maintaining these stereotypes of Black criminality.

As Cornell William Brooks, director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said: “The resignation of Corporal Eric Casebolt is a good first step, but hardly the last.”

On both sides of the Atlantic, relations between the police and Black communities are at a considerable low. We need to continue to put pressure on the police for wholesale reform.

Remi Joseph-Salisbury is a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds with broad interests in race and racism, particularly in the UK and US

Posted on: 12/06/2015 02:47 PM

In Memory of Deyika Nzeribe (1966-2017)

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Deyika Nzeribe was one of the founders and main organisers of the Northern Police Monitoring Project. His hard work and creativity made many of the events and services that the NPMP have offered in the past, possible. However, Deyika’s work transcended NPMP. He was a tireless campaigner, a friend, a father, a brother and an inspiration to all those whose lives he had touched. But it was the humilty, that informed all of his work, that made what he did infinetely more admirable.This short piece, written by Tanzil Chowdhury, was originally read out at as a eulogy at his funeral.

There is something interesting about the humble giant. She, or in this case he, gives themself selflessly to their family, friends and their community. Their presence in those peoples lives is persistent, positive and enriching. They always are there to help us if we need them, to lean on. Yet though we benefit from them and our lives are nourished by their selflessness, the humble giant remains quiet. His work is almost always behind the scenes, never done for any public praise or gratitute, but exclusively motivated just to make the lives of others better.

They are an oxymoron, for their presence in our lives is so notable and benevolent but they remain the unsung hero. Deyika, was one such person. You may not know it, but whatever is better and good in your community, was most likely because it was in someway touched by this great brother.

When Deyika was ever involved with something, it gave one the comfort and confidence that anything was possible. There is a story I’ve told many others, that one night a few months ago, Deyika texted me out of the blue and simply said ‘Tanzil, we need to Free the Black Panthers from jail.’ Had anyone else said that, I would have replied with sour realism. But with Deyika, anything  was a possibility. It is no surprise therefore, that my last interaction with this titan of a man, was trying to free political prisoners.

Rest in eternal Power Deyika. Keep an eye on us all from above.