Police will have greater powers to prevent knife crime and tackle
serious violence as the Home Secretary permanently lifts
restrictions on their use of stop and search in areas where they
anticipate serious violence to happen.
In a letter sent to police forces today (Monday 16 May), the Home
Secretary will remove restrictions on section 60 that have been
in place since 2014. These restrictions have limited when
officers could use the vital power and decreased their confidence
in deploying it.
Removing these restrictions means that more officers can
authorise section 60, the powers can be in place for longer and
can be used when police anticipate that serious violence ‘may’
occur rather than ‘will’ occur.
This will give officers full operational flexibility and the
confidence they need to use the tool, helping rid the streets of
dangerous weapons and save lives.
The move coincides with the launch of Operation Sceptre - a week
of intensive action from every police force in England and Wales
to combat knife crime up and down the country.
Home Secretary said:
The devastating impact of knife crime on families who have lost
their loved one is unbearable. No one should have to endure the
pain and suffering of the victims of these appalling crimes and
we have a responsibility to them to do everything in our power to
prevent future tragedies.
Since 2019, the police have removed over 50,000 knives and
offensive weapons from our streets and in the 2 years to March
2021, over 150,000 arrests were made following stop and search,
preventing thousands of possible fatal injuries.
I stand wholeheartedly behind the police so that they can build
on their work to drive down knife crime by making it easier for
officers to use these powers to seize more weapons, arrest more
suspects and save more lives.
Since 2019, stop and search use has increased by around 85% and
has contributed to over 50,000 deadly knives and offensive
weapons being taken off our streets.
The government has further signalled its commitment to support
police forces to use stop and search powers today by launching a
consultation to make it easier for officers to search known knife
carriers.
This follows the introduction of Serious Violence Reduction
Orders under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act passed
last month which will give the police the power to stop and
search adults who have previously been convicted for knife or
other offensive weapon crimes.
These measures are intended to help further drive down knife
crime after recent statistics have indicated there has been a 4%
decrease in stabbings in the year to December 2021. From March
2019 until now, under this government, stabbings have fallen
around 10%.
Permanently relaxing the conditions maintains forces’ use of
section 60 in line with the original legislative position laid
out in the 1994 Act and means:
- Reducing the threshold that must be met before a Section 60
authorisation can be given from reasonably believing serious
violence “will” occur to “may” occur.
- Lowering the rank of officer able to give an initial Section
60 authorisation from senior officer to an officer of or above
the rank of an inspector.
- Increasing the maximum period in which a Section 60
authorisation can remain in place (without extension) from 15
hours to 24 hours.
- Lowering the rank of officer required to extend a Section 60
authorisation from senior officer to superintendent or above and
increasing the maximum period to which an authorisation can be
extended (beyond an initial 24 hours) from 39 hours to 48 hours.
- Section 60 authorisations no longer needed to be publicly
communicated to communities in advance.
The government will be working with policing partners to provide
strong guidance to forces on ensuring transparent communication
with communities when section 60 will be used to help build
community trust and confidence, noting that in some instances
this might not be possible due to operational tactics.
The Home Office has already asked the College of Policing to
update its stop and search guidance to ensure its fair and
proportionate use. The updated guidance was published in July
2020 and provides best practice examples for forces to use on
community engagement and scrutiny.
