The claimant challenged the legality of section 60 of the 1994 Act as an interference in her article 8 rights. She had been caught on a bus without her fare and gave a false name and address. A direction had been given authorising any person to be stopped and searched for any unauthorised weapon, and the police officer searched her under the authority.
Held: The application failed.
Moses LJ said: ‘There is an important issue as to whether the legislation is being used in a racially discriminatory manner. But that issue cannot be determined in these proceedings. In order to establish that the power of stop and search exercised under a s.60 authorisation is being used in a racially discriminatory manner it is not sufficient merely to swap written statistics and expect the court to resolve the issue. Liberty and the claimant have advanced a substantial quantity of statistics in an attempt to prove that the powers are being used in a racially discriminate manner. The statistics on which they rely are challenged by the Commissioner of Police on the basis that they do not accurately represent the proportion of black minority ethnic groups in the areas in which such searches are authorised. Moreover, the Commissioner challenges the inferences which might be drawn from the statistics. These issues cannot be resolved merely by assertion and counter-assertion founded on figures and percentages. Indeed, it would be highly dangerous to do so. If a court permitted itself to reach a conclusion on the basis of challenged and disputed statistics it might only exacerbate a fraught and sensitive subject.’
Judges:
Moses LJ, Eady J
Citations:
[2012] EWHC 1977 (Admin), [2012] HRLR 28
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 60, European Convention on Human Rights 8
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Diedrick, Regina (on The Application of) v Hampshire Constabulary and Others Admn 26-Jul-2012
The claimant challenged the alteration of the PACE code of conduct to remove the mandatory requirement on an officer executing a stop and account or stop and search to record the self-defined ethnicity of the person so stopped, and also to challenge . .
Appeal from – Roberts, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis and Others CA 4-Feb-2014
The claimant asserted that the provisions of section 60 of the 1994 Act, which allowed personal searches by police officers where no suspicion of misbehaviour was present, infringed her rights under Article 8 of the Convention.
Held: The . .
At First Instance – Roberts, Regina (on the application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and another SC 17-Dec-2015
The Court considered the validity of suspicionless stop and search activities under s 60 of the 1994 Act, by police officers.
Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. The safeguards attending the use of the s 60 power, and in particular the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Police, Human Rights, Discrimination
Updated: 15 September 2022; Ref: scu.462909
