Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act

The Act amended the Terrorism Act 2000 to explicitly grant border control the power to stop, detain and make copies of a suspect's belongings (including laptops and mobiles) at ports and airports.

The changes are outlined in Schedule 9.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights published a report (PDF) which criticises the bill on potential human rights violations. Concerns are expressed about Schedule 7 which outlines the provisions in stopping and searching. They believe the range of powers are too wide and there aren't enough provisions for reasonable suspicion.

“Failure to comply with any duties or requests is a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment for up to 3 months. The powers are used on a considerable scale (approximately 80,000 stops a year) and, according to the EHRC, the ethnic breakdown of those subjected to the power suggests a statistical disproportionality in terms of race and, probably, religion.” P31

• Passage of the bill
• Home Office documents
• Searchable version of Dec 2012 draft (Spy Blog)
• The Birth of a Police State: UK Police to be granted sweeping new powers, Scriptonite Daily, 2013-07-24