Return of the 'Sus' laws

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/27g397t

It is reported that the police are to return to stop & search based on race, I can see no reason why this was ever stopped in the first place.

It stands to reason that if the police are in a predominantly Black area and a crime has been committed by what witnesses have described as a Black male with a beard, the police are going to stop and search those who fit that description, not a white person, or even a black person without a beard

When are the ethnic minorities going to stop accusing the police of only stopping them because they are not white?

One never hears a white person complaining that they are only being stopped because they are white.

[sp1814]

You need to reread the article, because this is not what the reintroduction of the sus laws means that the police will be able to stop someone purely because of their race, and not because they have any suspicion that the person has been involved in crime.

"One never hears a white person complaining that they are only being stopped because they are white."

Bet they would if they were stopped and searched more than five times in a year.

Working classes are involved in much more street crime those from than middle classes.

If the police then targetted only those people whom they thought looked working class, I guarantee that resentment would start to build.

This is part of the reason why Raoul Moat became a 'folk hero' in some parts of the north east...because so many people working class people there hate the police.

[sp1814]

AOG

Furthermore, you've not read the article properly.

It states:

It read: ''Officers must also take particular care not to discriminate against members of minority ethnic groups in exercising the powers.

''There may be circumstances, however, where it is appropriate for officers to take account of an individual's ethnic origin in selecting persons and vehicles to be stopped in response to a specific threat or incident, but this must not be the sole reason for the stop.''

So why did you assume that ethnic minorities are complainging?

[rov1200]

With the police force not exempt from the cuts necessary to get the country back on its feet it makes sense to target those that are most likely to commit a crime. Profiling has been used for decades and if it wasn't for certain backward organisations it would have achieved greater prominence.

If an area is composed of 90% blacks and the crime is committed in that area we are not targetting the minority but the statistical majority.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

Your second post contradicts the first.

First you complain that for some reason the police will stop persons simply because of the colour of one's skin.

Why should they do this, what have they to gain?

In your second post yo go onto say "So why did you assume that ethnic minorities are complaining"?

You obviously are.

/// Working classes are involved in much more street crime /// and may I add a large proportion of these come from the ethnic minorities, so it stands to reason that they do not like the police, because it is them that try and prevent them from carrying out their illegal deeds, hence the frequently of stop and search among these groups.

[fredpuli47]

The 'sus' law was under the Vagrancy Act of 1834 "any suspected person loitering with intent to commit a [ theft etc]" committed an offence and could be stopped searched and arrested accordingly

A 'suspected person' was any known thief or, (and this was 99.9 per cent of cases; i don't think I ever heard of one on the ';known thief' basis) someone who committed two 'overt acts' This meant that e.g. a person looking about him and trying a car door was not committing the offence but he was when he then tried a second car door
.
Unfortunately officers were given to not bothering about seeing the two overt acts, or any,, which was not to say that that didn't stop them testifying that they had. This offence was abused and the abuse of it was noticeable in respect of black people. And, of course, the officers could always stop someone on the pretext that the person had been seen behaving suspiciously and then let them go after a search.