Home Secretary: 'Sus' plans dropped

Home Secretary, Theresa May has dropped plans to bring back controversial 'Sus' stop and search laws that would have unfairly targeted minority ethnic people.

Pressure from campaigners, including a protest letter to the Home Secretary from the National Black Police Association backed by leading Black organisations, including OBV, this week helped to push the Government to back down.

The draft Section 60 guidance of the 1994 Criminal Justice act left out a key clause and would have allowed officers to discriminate on ground of race and ethnicity when using stop-and-search powers.

The re-drawn guidance, which will go for parliamentary approval this week, now orders that officers "must take care not to discriminate unlawfully against anyone on the grounds of any of the protected characteristics set out in the 2010 Equality Act", when selecting people or vehicles to stop and search, and covers ethnic background, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation and religious belief.

Charles Crichlow, NBPA President who headed the Section 60 protest, speaking to OBV on behalf of the campaigners states; “It appears the Government has listened to the voice of the community and organisations who clearly understand the impact of policies which open the door to further discrimination.

"The Guidance on Section 60 stop and search was a clear example of a policy that was improperly thought out without the support of the community to which it would have impacted the most. Moreover, this policy would have had the effect of sending us further down the slippery road towards racial profiling and as we pointed out in our open letter to the Home Secretary, a dangerous concession to racism.

"The fact that the Home Office has changed course on this guidance is a clear illustration that ‘there is strength in unity’, a great example of our community organisations working together for the common good.

He continued: “It is the policy of the NBPA to work with Community Organisations, the Police Service and Government to help to develop policies which have a beneficial effect in tackling crime and protecting people. Individuals who work tirelessly in the cause of social justice should find some sense of reassurance that they can and do make a difference when they stand together with one voice.

“This should now serve as a step towards intelligent policy making and a catalyst for the Home Office to engage in a meaningful dialogue with those who campaigned on this issue to carefully examine the wider application and impact of stop and search as a tactic particularly in the context of the present Government’s Police Reform agenda and in light of the disturbing level of disproportionality and unfairness that still exist within the criminal justice system.”  

Protest letter campainers included: Lee Jasper, Chair London Race and Criminal Justice Consortium. Doreen Lawrence, Human Rights Campaigner. Peter Herbert, Society of Black Lawyers.Colette Williams, Chair; UJIMA-African Caribbean Community Assembly (Manchester).

Farida Anderson MBE, Coalition for Racial Justice UK (CRJ UK). David Weaver, Chair 1990 Trust. Gloria Hyatt MBE, Chair Liverpool Black Leaders Forum . Simon Woolley, National Director, Operation Black Vote. Ratna Lachman, Just West Yorkshire. Abdallah Nagib-Ali, Association of Black Probation Officers (ABPO).

Dr Elizabeth Henry, Interim Chief Executive, Race On The Agenda. Ratna Dutt, Chief Executive, Race Equality Foundation. Dr Rob Berkeley, Director, Runnymede Trust. Caryl Agard, Chair, Voice4Change England. Karen L Robinson. National Chair. Respect, HM Prison Service. Jeremy Crook OBE, Director, Black Training Enterprise Group.