Police stop white people to 'racially balance' terror figures

Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of the UK's anti– terrorist laws, said police were stopping people against whom they had no evidence to provide "racial balance" to their figures. He said the practice should cease, even if it results in an "ethnic imbalance" in the statistics.

He also attacked the blanket use by some police of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which permits people being stopped without suspicion in a defined geographical area. It is used across London on a continuous basis, resulting in up to 10,000 stops a month in the city.

Lord Carlile, a QC and Liberal Democrat peer, said the provision should be used only on a borough basis or to cover instances such as a protest at Heathrow Airport.

He said: "It is totally wrong for any person to be stopped in order to produce a racial balance in the Section 44 statistics. There is ample anecdotal evidence this is happening. I can well understand the concerns of the police that they should be free from allegations of prejudice, but it is not a good use of precious resources if they waste them on self-evidently unmerited searches. It is also an invasion of the civil liberties of the person who has been stopped, simply to 'balance' the statistics.

"If, for example, 50 blonde women are stopped who fall nowhere near any intelligence-led terrorism profile, it's a gross invasion of the civil liberties of those 50 blonde women."

Lord Carlile said Section 44 powers continued to be used "very sparingly" in Scotland.

The Metropolitan Police, which carries out 90 per cent of the searches, was specifically criticised and has announced a review of how it uses the law.

Officers in England and Wales used the powers to search more than 124,000 people last year, three times the level of 40,000 in 2007. Around 1 per cent of searches led to an arrest.

Praising the close working relationships between security services north of the Border, Lord Carlile said he had received no complaints about the use of the Terrorism Act last year. He said: "There exists in Scottish police forces a very high level of expertise on terrorism matters, and a real sense of purpose.

"There remains a very impressive level of partnership between police and coastal communities in parts of Scotland, with reference to any terrorism threat from incoming boats."

His annual review of anti- terror laws suggests white people may be being stopped more often to balance the proportionately larger number of Asians stopped because they fit intelligence profiles of possible terror suspects.

The report said that the number of searches carried out under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 could be halved without harming national security.

Lord Carlile added: "I repeat my mantra that terrorism- related powers should be used only for terrorism-related purposes; otherwise their credibility is severely damaged."

Shadow security minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones said unwarranted use of the powers could damage community relations.

She added: "The government needs to make absolutely sure that anti-terrorism powers are used proportionately and only for terror-related purposes."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "We must row back from random and excessive use of stop and search and reach out to the communities we most rely on for intelligence in the fight against terrorism."

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Yates said: "Powers to stop and search are an important part of tackling terrorism, but should always be used in a proportionate way by well-trained and briefed officers. We ask our officers to apply common sense and discretion in the way that they police – this will also include a requirement to fully explain the reasons for stop and search."

A Home Office spokesman defended use of the powers, saying: "As part of a structured anti-terrorist strategy, the powers help to deter terrorist activity by creating a hostile environment for would-be terrorists to operate in."