Stop and search powers for police are set to be boosted under Boris Johnson’s new plans to tackle crime in the UK.
The Prime Minister’s new strategy will include a permanent relaxing of conditions on the use of Section 60 stop and search powers whereby officers can search someone without reasonable grounds in an area where serious violence is expected.
The new plans will remove the rules imposed by former PM Theresa May which limited officers’ use of their stop and search powers.
The permanent change also follows on from a nationwide pilot which reduced the level of authorisation needed to impose a Section 60 order, and also lowered the degree of certainty required.
Under Boris Johnson’s new plans, thieves and burglars will be made to wear GPS tags following their release from prison. Alcohol tags will also be trialled in Wales to detect alcohol in the sweat of some prison leavers in a bid to crack down on alcohol-related crime.
Shadow employment minister Andy McDonald has expressed his concerns with the boosting of police’s powers.
Speaking to ITV news on stop and search, he said: “I would say tread with care, we’ve been here before and we see it in this city and I would be very wary about this.
“We know how this impacts and it hits upon ethnic minorities much harder than other groups […] I think we should take great care over this policy.”
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