Policeman reveals tricks used to hit terror search 'targets'

Constable Edmund Burke has decided to speak out publicly because he claims bosses have ignored his fears that innocent people were being routinely stopped and searched to hit unofficial daily targets.

The 32-year-old, who is preparing to quit the force, said there was so much pressure on officers to "get numbers up" on searches that he and his colleagues would stop schoolchildren and even make up names and profiles.

Among those whose identities fellow officers copied were characters based on soul singer Tina Turner and the comedian Billy Connolly.

Earlier this year, two serving BTP officers told the Evening News of increasing pressure to undertake the searches, brought in after the 2007 Glasgow Airport terrorist attack.

The new powers saw more than 4000 people stopped at Haymarket and Waverley stations in the six months after the Glasgow attack alone.

British Transport Police today said they totally refuted all of Constable Burke's allegations.

However, Mr Burke – who has been signed off sick since December last year and is planning to take BTP to an employment tribunal – stands by his claims.

He said: "I have been victimised for speaking out against this.

"After the attack on Glasgow Airport our force started utilising powers under Section 44 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000. The pressure was unbelievable to carry out these searches. Officers were stopping kids in school uniforms for example, they turned the whole thing into a fishing exercise.

"I honestly believe we were abusing our powers. It was becoming counter-productive because people we were stopping like school kids or football fans were hardly the people that would be involved in terrorism. It was just a numbers game.

It got so bad that if you were low in numbers in your records it was encouraged to take names and addresses out of the telephone directory.

"It also got so bad that some officers began to create bogus profiles resembling celebrities. These were people like Billy Connolly where the profile would be 6ft tall white male, grey thinning hair with a purple beard or someone black, busty in a short skirt who resembled Tina Turner.

"It became so widespread that there was a guessing game among some officers as to which celebrity your colleague had chosen."

Constable Burke is originally from Belfast and has now moved back to Northern Ireland. He was not based in Edinburgh but often worked at the city's stations.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We totally refute any suggestions made by Constable Burke."

Edinburgh South MSP Mike Pringle, the Liberal Democrats' deputy justice spokesman, praised Constable Burke for revealing what was going on and said the practices he described were "seriously unacceptable".

He said: "Stopping schoolchildren is absolutely ridiculous."

A RESPONSE TO AIRPORT ATTACK

THE special stop and search powers were introduced across the UK in the wake of the attempted terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport in June 2007.

The powers allow officers to search anyone at random and seize anything that may be used in connection with terrorism. They have proved so contentious because statistics obtained by the Evening News last year showed people from some ethnic minorities have a higher chance of being stopped than the Capital's predominantly white population.

Also, Scotland's other eight police forces used the powers for a brief period after the attacks but did not seek to extend their use, ruling they were "no longer proportionate".