The Importance Of Stop And Search

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Recommended: Section 1 of the police and criminal act 1984

) A stop and search is a vital power that a police officer possesses. This power can be used to prevent serious incidents from taking place. For example offences such as theft, drugs, public disorder and serious violence. However, statistics shows that people from black or Asian communities are stopped and searched more often than Caucasians. This resulted in a high number of cases being filed on the grounds of human rights and discrimination (Open University, 2014).
According to section 60 of the criminal justice and public order Act (CJPOA 1994), an inspector is able to give authorisation for stop and searches to be carried out if he/she suspects of a serious incident that might occur in their police area. A police constable has the power …show more content…

According to section 6 of the Human Rights Act (HRA 1998), the police must not act in a way that contradicts the convention rights. However this would not apply, if the police were following primary legislation and so could not have handled the incident differently. The word “act” in section 2, means “a failure to act”. However, it would not apply if the public authority had put forward a proposal for legislation or amendment to the Parliament. Therefore the police are obliged to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights …show more content…

This protects individuals from arbitrary interference by public authorities or private organisations such as the media. However, section 2 of the article sets out the circumstances where interference is necessary. This could be for public safety, national security, to prevent serious crime and harm to others, etc… There has to be strict justification for the intrusion of one’s private life. In the case of Robert v Commissioner of Police (2014), Lord Justice Kay, agreed that article 8 was breached to some extent. The humiliation of a public stop and search from a police officer could be seen as a breach of her right to a private life. However, under section 60 of the CJPOA, if acted under authorisation, the police do not need any grounds for a stop and search so it is in accordance with the law. Therefore her right to a private life had not been breached in this

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