a while ago i posted about hecklers at the labour conference being arrested under the prevention of terrorism act. actually a friend of mine at university had his room entered by the police under a similar act, claiming they’d heard a gunshot. they were really after drugs, and actually arrested him for stealing a gulley grating that they found under his bed, but that’s another story.
well, uncle tony went to print today ridiculing the judges (what do they know?) for “siding with the accused”, rather than allow the police to stop, search, question and generally go over the top in the quest for terrorists. it seems the government is set to widen police powers, ostensibly to allow them to stop, search and question WITHOUT REASON. nice. penalty for refusing or resisting is to be 5000 pounds.
this was done in the seventies, mainly in northern ireland, and was called the suss laws. if a copper suspects you (just a hunch will do, no evidence required), then you’re fair game. right now the police can already do this in london and other major cities that are judged high risk areas for terrorists. witness the police presence at tube and rail stations randomly searching (mainly brown) commuters. there are so many things wrong with this tactic that it appears to me to be simply propaganda. no one searches people in morden tube station, just the big ticket ones. guess what, terrorists won’t get on the tube in the centre of town.
the met police are amongst the best in the UK, certainly amongst the best disciplined (they have had to be after all the fuck-ups in the 80s and 90s and resultant investigations, commissions etc). one wonders what happens when the glamorgan police get these powers. i guess you just can’t afford to piss off a copper. gone are the days when kids would walk behind one singing “who’s the twat in the big blue hat?”.
