Criminal Justice and Public Order (Amendment) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Amend the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to introduce Powers to stop and search in anticipation of, or after, violence, and for connected purposes

BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows –

Section 1: Powers to stop and search in anticipation of, or after, violence

Into the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, insert —

(1) If a police officer of or above the rank of inspector reasonably believes—

(a) That incidents involving serious violence may take place in any locality in his police area, and that it is expedient to give an authorisation under this section to prevent their occurrence,

(aa) that—

(i) an incident involving serious violence has taken place in England and Wales in his police area;

(ii) a dangerous instrument or offensive weapon used in the incident is being carried in any locality in his police area by a person; and

(iii) it is expedient to give an authorisation under this section to find the instrument or weapon; or

(b) that persons are carrying dangerous instruments or offensive weapons in any locality in his police area without good reason, he may give an authorisation that the powers conferred by this section are to be exercisable at any place within that locality for a specified period not exceeding 24 hours.

(2) If it appears to an officer of or above the rank of superintendent that it is expedient to do so, having regard to offences which have, or are reasonably suspected to have, been committed in connection with any activity falling within the authorisation, he may direct that the authorisation shall continue in being for a further [F624] hours.

(a) If an inspector gives an authorisation under subsection (1) he must, as soon as it is practicable to do so, cause an officer of or above the rank of superintendent to be informed.]

(3) This section confers on any constable in uniform power—

(a) to stop any pedestrian and search him or anything carried by him for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments;

(b) to stop any vehicle and search the vehicle, its driver and any passenger for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments

(4) A constable may, in the exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (4) above, stop any person or vehicle and make any search he thinks fit whether or not he has any grounds for suspecting that the person or vehicle is carrying weapons or articles of that kind.

(4) If in the course of a search under this section a constable discovers a dangerous instrument or an article which he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be an offensive weapon, he may seize it.

(5) This section applies (with the necessary modifications) to ships, aircraft and hovercraft as it applies to vehicles.

(6) A person who fails

(a) To stop, or to stop a vehicle;. . .

(b) When required to do so by a constable in the exercise of his powers under this žsection shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale or both.

(7) Subject to subsection (8a), any authorisation under this section shall be in writing signed by the officer giving it and shall specify the grounds on which it is given and the locality in which and the period during which the powers conferred by this section are exercisable and a direction under subsection (3) above shall also be given in writing or, where that is not practicable, recorded in writing as soon as it is practicable to do so.

(7a) An authorisation under subsection (1)(aa) need not be given in writing where it is not practicable to do so but any oral authorisation must state the matters which would otherwise have to be specified under subsection (9) and must be recorded in writing as soon as it is practicable to do so.

(7b) The preceding provisions of this section, so far as they relate to an authorisation by a member of the British Transport Police Force (including one who for the time being has the same powers and privileges as a member of a police force for a police area), shall have effect as if the references to a locality in his police area were references to a place,in England and Wales, specified in section 31(1)(a) to (f) of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 and as if the reference in subsection (1)(aa)(i) above to his police area were a reference to any place falling within section 31(1)(a) to (f) of the Act of 2003.

(8) Where a vehicle is stopped by a constable under this section, the driver shall be entitled to obtain a written statement that the vehicle was stopped under the powers conferred by this section if he applies for such a statement not later than the end of the period of twelve months from the day on which the vehicle was stopped F18. . ..

(a) A person who is searched by a constable under this section shall be entitled to obtain a written statement that he was searched under the powers conferred by this section if he applies for such a statement not later than the end of the period of twelve months from the day on which he was searched.]

(9) In this section—

(a) “dangerous instruments” means instruments which have a blade or are sharply pointed;

(b) “offensive weapon” has the meaning given by section 1(9) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 or, in relation to Scotland, section 47(4) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, but in subsections (1)(aa), (4), (5) and (6) above and subsection (11A) below includes, in the case of an incident of the kind mentioned in subsection (1)(aa)(i) above, any article used in the incident to cause or threaten injury to any person or otherwise to intimidate]; and “vehicle” includes a caravan as defined in section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a person carries a dangerous instrument or an offensive weapon if he has it in his possession.

(10) The powers conferred by this section are in addition to and not in derogation of, any power otherwise conferred.

Section 2: Extent, Commencement and Short title

(1) This Act extends to England.

(2) This Act comes into force at midnight on the day it receives Royal Assent.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Criminal Justice and Public Order (Amendment) Act 2022

This bill is authored by the right honorable u/SpecificDear901 OBE, MP and Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs and with contributions from His Grace The Right Honorable Duke of Richmond u/Skullduggery12 PC CH LG DStJ, Spokesperson for Foreign affairs, on behalf of the Conservative and Unionist Party

Opening Speech - u/SpecificDear901

Speaker,

A promise is a promise. We promised returning stop and search, we are returning stop and search. The people asked for this when they voted for us in the last elections and we are only here to fulfill our duties.

Last term we saw a declaration of war on proper policing in this nation. A nation once thoughtful about its crime rate and state of police and security institutions, last term the ship was steered into ideological waters. Members thought long and hard about what the best way to demonize our men and women in blue was and how to take away much needed policing powers that are necessary for defending our public against a multitude of threats. As we’ve always said, whether in this very house or campaign trial: section 60 has issues! However our party believes that the precedent of rooting out issues by removing existing tools as a whole is wrong. The fact we never tried to do anything — such as greater accountability, greater emphasis on actual community policing initiatives, sensitivity and awareness training and tailoring and training police forces to their respective environments just comes to show what the thought process of those who repealed this was — it was never about doing good, it was a political game!

Like many policing tools section 60 might not have an absolute success rate, however when it works it catches the right type of threats. Forces report using s60 to prevent serious violence at major or public events, carnivals, football matches, protests or, more commonly, in the immediate aftermath of incidents of serious violence to find offensive weapon, and when it is used and a weapon is found it is sure as hell a positive to our public security.

Our communities must be safe. I’ve seen the mess that is my constituency’s police force — I’m pretty sure many of my dear colleagues in this house can concur with their respective constituencies. Our police officers are weak and outright ask to be given at least something to combat issues like knife, violent and drug crime or even theft and disturbances. As conservatives we understand our duty is helping our men and women in blue maintain public security and protect the health and lives of the public, men and women who already bravely commit to their already excruciatingly stressful and dangerous jobs. All in all that is what this bill does and I hope that going into the future we’ll be able to, following this nation’s laws and democratic principles and enhance the capabilities and powers of our police force!

This division shall end on Monday 30th October at 10pm BST.