Tories' new plan to extend police

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The new Bill gives more powers to racist cops daily by the capitalist class, sion that the only accountthe police force and legal able police force would be system cannot in the last one based on the disbandanalysis be reformed to fit ment of the present apparathe needs of the workings tus, and the establishment class. by a workers' government of Serious demands for local-based patrols under the. accountability must sooner control of elected labour or later result in the conclu- movement committees. SWEEPING new powers for the police, beneath a thin cosmetic veneer of ineffective 'safeguards' to the rights of arrested suspects are proposed in the Tory government's new Police Bill, unveiled last week.

The package has been described by the National Council for Civil Liberties as possibly 'setting back the cause of law reform by 20 years.' Ironically, the source of many of the new proposals is the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, supposedly set up to increase the rights of suspects. But its two suggestions which would have done this - taking the power to prosecute out of the hands of the police and into the control of a civilian prosecutor; and introducing new safeguards against telephone tapping - have been ignored by the Tory Bill.

Instead, the new legislation proposes to extend police powers to stop and search people on the street for stolen or prohibited goods. Such powers already exist in London: now they are to apply across the country, opening up thousands of inhocent workers, youth, and particularly blacks to further police harassment.

Charged

Figures show that. less than 10% of those stopped and searched in London are ever charged with a criminal offence.

The only 'safeguard' offered to the victim of such random police harassment is that the officer must write a report of the incident!

In addition, the Bill would give police the power to arrest for a non-arrestable, minor offenue, such as littering, if the person involved refuses to give a name and address. And on the vaguest pretext - simply searching for someone at large who has committed a serious arrestable offence, or 'having , теgard to à pattern of crime' in an area, the police would be empowered to set up road blocks for up to 7 days.

Having been arrested, the suspect would face further loss of rights under the Tory proposals.

His or her right to see a lawyer might be delayed if police officers judge the alleged offence to be serious'. they may normally be detained up to 24 hours without charge, or, again if the offence is thought 'serious' by the police, an application could be made by police for a private hearing at which a magistrate could grant a further detention of up to 24 hours.

Suspect

The suspect would have no right to appear at such a hearing, simply to submit a statement in writing; nor would he or she be necessarily allowed a solicitor.

Only after 48 hours detention without charge would a suspect have the With the help of information from Sarah Spencer at the National Coun cil for Civil Liberties, Harry Sloan reports on the new Bill.

right to appear before a magistrate and to legal representation: and even then a further order could be issued authorising another 24 hour detention without charge.

The Bill would enable a senior police officer to authorise compulsory finger printing and intimate body searches of suspects which at present need a warrant, and extends police rights to enter, search and seize property.

In exchange, the flimsy 'rights' offered by the Bill are not worth the paper they are written on. Though the Royal Commission had pointed out that a wronged suspect has no effective redress against police breaches of procedures, it made no proposals to remedy this.

Evidence

The NCCL's demand that all suspects be automatically entitled to a solicitor and that any evidence. obtained in breach of procedures be ruled inadmissable in court has been ignored.

Instead face-saving formula for introducing an independent assessment of serious complaințs against the police leaves all investigations in the hands of the police themsleves. :

And a plan for 'conciliation' over minor complaints would make a police officer responsible for reconciling' the two sides - plainly leaving the door open to pressurise complainants into dropping their protests.

A new 'double jeopardy' rule would also protect police from complaints which allege criminal misconduct but which the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to take to court.

Needless to say, the most rabid right wing elements within the Police Federation will still complain that the powers embodied in this legislation do not go far enough.

But for the labour movement, the proposals must be seen as a further heavy blow at the rights of workers, the unemployed and young people.

MPs the

CAP:

trade union movement must be called upon to build a campaign to expose the content of this Bill and the way in which it flies in the face of growing demands within the labour movement that the police be made accountable to elected local authoriLast weekend ties.

But as an arm of the state machinery which functions outside the formalities of parliamentary • democracy and accountability, and as the frontline defender of the private property and the legalised plunder carried out unempl ›yed young women and those in the unions, to help them organise effectively.

The sexism in the YS was seen as a reason why young. women have difficulty in getting involved and we agreed to work to make the YS take women's oppression more seriously. We stressed how important it was for us to be involved in broad camon the ESSAYS by a group of Hendon police cadets leaked to 'City Limits' magazine cast fresh light on allegations of police racism.

'Asked to write on what they felt about 'Blacks in Britain'; all but one of the 17 cadets reflected racism in their essays. In several instances they echoed National Front and other fascist propaganda.

One speculated whether "a 12 bore shotgun can blast a blackman into tiny pieces at 12 yards"' • A more charitable cadet simply urged, "Send them home".

Another admits that: "It makes me cringe when I see a black bloke going out with a white woman:..

.. (T)he blacks, must accept that if they are to live in this country, they must fall in line under white British dictators...

No doubt these credentials will secure the cadets rapid promotion in the The black youth workshops took up the issues of police and state racism as well as pointing to the need to turn to black youth.

A comrade from Poland addressed the conference and warned that the Tories who 'support' Solidarnosc are not welcome. "They think we're anti-communist. I want to see them when we

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supporters of the paper Class Fighter met to organise the revolutionary