Serious Crime Bill [Lords]

The power to stop and search randomly is a power that should be exercised with the greatest of care. The right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) made some telling points about the sensitivity that the exercise of such an apparently random power requires, especially in communities where ethnic minorities predominate. There is no doubt that in the past the power has been exercised without the necessary sensitivity, and that has caused considerable resentment in many of the communities that have been exposed to it. There is also no doubt, however, that we are faced with an unprecedented situation. Serious violent crime is rising. The prevalence of the use of knives on our streets is a phenomenon that is growing alarmingly. We can all cite anecdotal evidence of the use of knives at increasingly younger ages. The law enforcement authorities are faced with the impossibility of preventing the use of knives on our streets with ever diminishing inhibition by ever younger perpetrators. It is in those circumstances that we have heard voices recently drawing to our attention the need for greater powers for the police to be able to stop and search. It is important to recall that the powers that are exercisable under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 can be exercised only if an inspector has decided that he has reasonable grounds to suspect that a serious violent incident may take place in a particular locality or that in that particular locality there are grounds to suspect that someone is carrying a dangerous weapon. It is important to carry out the kind of community relations and consultation of which the right hon. Gentleman spoke. It is important to get across to those communities that when the police use the power that they were given under the 1994 Act, they are doing it to protect the public, including not only those who have not been stopped, but those who have been stopped and are innocent. It is not always done with the necessary sensitivity. The right hon. Gentleman may have had experience, in a professional capacity, as I certainly have, of incidences of stop and search that have not been carried out with the sensitivity required. However, it is vital that we should remember that that critical power is used to protect all members of society, including vulnerable members of the public who are at risk from those wielding those types of weapons. We must start from the position that the House has conferred, in carefully safeguarded circumstances, an important power on the police. We have to ask whether we have reached a situation in which we need to consider a limited—and also carefully safeguarded—extension of that power. I believe that we have reached that position. The tide of violence that seems to be sweeping our streets among not even adults, but children, needs some measure of response. However, as the right hon. Gentleman said in his impressive contribution, it must be a measured and limited extension. That is why the Government's intention in the amendment is understandable and laudable. They propose a narrow extension. They wish to clarify the law so that there is no doubt that, where a serious violent incident has taken place, a police officer of the rank of inspector may say, ““I have reasonable grounds to believe that somebody may be carrying the weapon that has been used in that incident, therefore I shall authorise random stop and search powers, in the interests of detecting crime.”” Note that it is for the purpose of detecting crime, not preventing it. The provision relates not to preventing crime but to detecting it, so having reflected on what the Minister said, I can see that there may be some value in a clarification of the law, because it must be arguable that the law already extends to that situation. Equally, no doubt, I can imagine—I blush to confess it—a member of my profession advancing to a learned judge the proposition that the statute is plainly intended for the prevention of crime, not the detection of crime, so to purport to exercise the power under the provision is unlawful. The new clause clarifies the law. It does not really extend the law, as the power may already exist, but makes it clear that the law can be used for the detection of crime, not merely for the prevention of crime under the proposal. The serious violent incident could have taken place some days previously; there seems to be no proximity of time and perhaps the Minister could assist me on that point in his closing remarks. The provision does not seem to require there to be any proximity in time between the serious violent incident and the authorisation of the stop and search power. The serious violence could have taken place some months beforehand, but if the officer conceives that the weapon used in the incident is in a particular place, he can authorise the use of stop and search. Such clarification may be useful, but I urge the Minister to reflect on the fact that the time may have come for a measured extension of the power and my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch (James Brokenshire) proposes just such a measured extension. My constituency covers a large rural area, which includes five or six market towns many miles distant from a major conurbation. Their police stations are often manned not by inspectors, but by sergeants. If there is disorder in a market town or a large village—such disorders can occur even in small villages—the sergeant will be faced with the decision about the police reaction to that disorder. It may thus be valuable to permit the sergeant, without seeking out his inspector who may be 50 miles away and have no real knowledge of the circumstances that led to the sergeant wanting to take the action, to authorise for a limited period of time—we propose six hours—the use of the stop and search power. It must be remembered, however, that the officer can do so only if he has reasonable grounds to believe that a serious violent incident may be committed or that a person is carrying a dangerous offensive weapon. In far-flung rural areas, such as the one I represent, entrusting that power to a sergeant, who may be in charge of the police station in which he is based, could be a valuable and useful measure. Our proposal could be valuable and it is worthy of serious reflection. It would invite, I respectfully submit to the Minister, wide consensus and it is not to be dismissed out of hand.