The UK government has launched an investigation into the use of counter-terror laws after it emerged that the police forces in the country wrongly applied the stop-and-search law.
An internal review by the office for security and counter-terrorism revealed that thousands of people have been illegally stopped and searched under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. Forty cases where police forces across England and Wales, including City of London and Metropolitan police forces, misapplied stop-and-search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 have been uncovered where the police forces misapplied the legislation.
The wrong application of counter-terrorism laws included 35 occasions when the police forces asked for authorisations lasting longer than the maximum 28 days, which is the maximum permitted under the law in the United Kingdom.
Another case was a 2004 Metropolitan police operation in which 840 people were stopped even though the police did not get authorisation from a government minister within 48 hours.
“We are grateful to the government for making these blunders public but they merely highlight the ongoing dangers of secret stop and search authorisations. This is one of many objections to a power that has been found unlawful in the Court of Human Rights and has been more of a hindrance than a help to anti-terror policing,” human rights organisation Liberty’s lawyer Corinna Ferguson said.
The Association of Chief Police Officers said that no errors had been made in implementation of anti-terror laws since 2008.