Serious Crime Bill [Lords]

That is certainly one change. Both the existing scenarios will require written authorisation and will not be able to be subject to an oral authorisation, but in circumstances involving the reaction to an incident that has taken place, the approval would be able to be given orally and followed up by written authorisation. Another situation in which this proposal might apply could involve the police believing that a weapon such as a knife had been passed on to someone else. The police might not be searching for the perpetrator, whom people might already have identified. Eye witnesses might have said that the person in blue jeans and a red jumper had done it, but he might have passed the weapon on to someone else. In those circumstances, the power to stop-and-search without reasonable suspicion of others would be a useful addition to the police's powers to locate the weapon.