POLICE STOP AND SEARCH POWERS UNDER ANTI-TERRORISM LEGISLATION TOO WIDE AND NOT ADEQUATELY SAFEGUARDED BY DOMESTIC LAW AGAINST ABUSE
Although the powers of authorisation and confirmation exercised by the senior police officer and the Secretary of State respectively were subject to judicial review, the breadth of the discretion involved meant that applicants faced formidable obstacles in showing that any authorisation and confirmation were ultra vires or an abuse of power. Similarly, as shown in the applicantsÂ’ case, judicial review or an action in damages to challenge the exercise of the stop and search powers by a police officer in an individual case were unlikely to succeed. The absence of any obligation on the part of the officer to show a reasonable suspicion made it almost impossible to prove that that power had been improperly exercised.
