Are Police Stop and Search Powers Being Used Correctly?

Question

2 days ago I picked 3 members of my family up from a major London airport. Upon arrival I could not find the collection point for arrivals so I circled the area twice attempting to look for the correct place; as I am sure many other people do who are unfamiliar with the area.

On the second pass of the car park I was stopped with my 15 year old son present in the car by armed police officers, shouting out at the top of their voices for me to stop behind their checkpoint. I complied and was asked to leave the car and provide details of my name and address (as was my son). They were all verified and the grounds given for the stop were anti-terrorist related. I have no quarms with being stopped as I am sure that this is a highly sensitive site but the events that followed are of concern.

At no point was the inside of my car searched or was myself or my son (this seems one of the obvious procedures being a suspected terrorist stop). It seemed that the police were not entirely concerned about us being terrorists as they spent an inordinate amount of time checking the tyres, windows, tax and general condition of my car. As I drive a high spec car and maintain it properly they rightly could not find any faults with the condition of the vehicle to their chagrin.

After around 25-30 minutes of inspections of my car EXTERIOR they approached me and declared that my license plates were not of the correct dimensions. I was given a £30 fixed penalty and nothing more.

At all times during the 25-30 minute stop 2 armed police officers were training their weapons on both me and my son. Neither of us found the incident traumatising, what I am annoyed with however is the reason for us being stopped and the following events.

Surely being stopped on anti-terrorist ground the condition of the vehicle should be at the back of their minds, with the contents and passengers being at the front of their minds. I cannot make it clear enough that I strongly believe that these officers used these anti-terrorist powers simply to stop my car in order to perform the checks listed above and not what they claimed to stop me for, as they spent most of the time trying to find fault with my car. I could see in their faces that they were to some degree annoyed that they could not find fault with the tyres, windows etc as they had spent no less then 10 minutes examining them.

Can you please share your views with me on this subject and if any of you are involved in law enforcement and other fields give me your thought on this.

Thank you.

Answer 1

makes you think twice about going out to the airport, doesn't it.

Answer 2

No of course they are not , it's their country . And , yes lots of harm done , to you and yours and observers .

Answer 3

It seems that their actions were well over the top. Even the fixed penalty should have been dealt with by an advisory word of caution .  Did you disrespect the officers in any way?  They seem to have wasted their time and I would have thought that they should have been nothing short of polite and apologetic and wished you on your way ..... but they do have a difficult job to do and they may well have been on alert for an incident. Perhaps you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?  My only comment is that perhaps you were disrespectful of their need to carry out their duty .... that can go a long way as to how they treat the public, fair or otherwise!  The fixed penalty notice for a routine stop seems to suggest that!  I can only suggest that you appeal.  

Answer 4

I know you did nothing wrong, but think about it this way:

If the police didn't do such things, particularly at an airport, and something happened one day, what would everyone say "how did they get away with that, did no body search them?" etc. They may have been onboxious, but it's they were doing their jobs. Perhaps if such things we're in place on the 7th of july, it may not have happened? You never know. Think about it.

Answer 5

Ask again in another few minutes just to irritate people further.

ps yes, it was out of order, but no harm done, eh?

I do have a low tolerance, but posting an identical, long - winded question three times in twenty minutes does tend to tick folk off, people may be taking five or ten minutes to pen a constructive answer, and then get annoyed & not bother when they refresh & see the same question in triplicate - I know I did!

Answer 6

The Police have always been known to use powers they have to deal with one set of circumstances as a way and means to deal with something totally different.

As with the big global warming con, anti terrorism laws are being misused by many people in authority. The local authority at a seaside resort (Poole in Dorset I believe) has used these anti terrorism laws to check if childen applying for certain schools were actually resident outside the catchment area.!

What chance will you have when they bring in identity cards ?

OH YES, I guess if you were of a different colour they would not have bothered as they would have been afraid you might play the race card !!

Answer 7

You could always find out which force the policemen belonged to and write to their chief constable if you were not happy with their conduct.  You could also try writing to your MP, especially as you feel that searching the inside of your vehicle would have been more logical.  You might have discovered a training need in the way that stop and search is conducted.

Answer 8

I am positive that not all officers abuse their power,but where I live many do.Thry are taser crazy if you get questionable about their authority.I really believe they need to do an extensive psychological exam on all canidates for police officer.Some of these people who are police officers are the bad guys,(at least in Indianapolis)lately they have dismissed ,and fired many cops.We have several under federal investigation for trafficking narcotics,and even murder,that is rediculous.Who are we to trust?Not the ones who are suppose to Protect,and serve.I hope your city hasn't the problems we have with the cops.Take care and be cool!

Answer 9

Congratulations you have just discovered that the "anti terror" laws were only an excuse for extra police powers.

Remember the family in the south of England where the local council used the powers of anti terror legislation to check up if they lived in a school catchment area?

It is all a big con.

Answer 10

That's nothing, I was stopped under anti-terror laws for giving a guy a ride.  It's a joke.

Answer 11

Bring on the revolution!

Answer 12

This is just the kind of abuse of anti-terrorism legislation that many of us, who have been mockingly labelled as the P.C. brigade, have been concerned about. They are being misused and abused and our personal freedoms are being eroded.

I foresee things getting worse in this respect unless we all stand up to the government to prevent them running roughshod over our civil liberties.