From the Telegraph shills

Police to return to stop and search based on race

Police will soon be able to use a person's race as a basis to carry out a stop and search under draft guidance which threatens a row with civil liberties groups.
Published: 7:00AM BST 16 Oct 2010

Liberty said the draft proposal ''flies in the face of recommendations in Sir William Macpherson's Inquiry'' into the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The proposed changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace) guidance, which governs the exercise of police powers, said that while officers must take particular care not to discriminate on the grounds of race, it may be appropriate ''in response to a specific threat or incident''.

It read: ''Officers must also take particular care not to discriminate against members of minority ethnic groups in exercising the powers.

''There may be circumstances, however, where it is appropriate for officers to take account of an individual's ethnic origin in selecting persons and vehicles to be stopped in response to a specific threat or incident, but this must not be the sole reason for the stop.''

This could include ''when the authorising officer reasonably believes that those likely to be responsible are associated with particular ethnic identities and passes that information on to the officers exercising the powers'', the draft proposals said.

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FROM CBC 
N.L. police need no reason to stop drivers
Province's Highway Traffic Act changes Friday
Last Updated: Thursday, September 30, 2010 | 6:43 PM NT 
CBC News

Police in Newfoundland and Labrador will be able to pull over drivers without having to give a reason beginning Friday.
Legislative changes made to the Highway Traffic Act to address safety on the province's highways come into effect Oct. 1.
Government Services Minister Kevin O'Brien said it's part of an effort to crack down on impaired driving.

"We brought that forward because the police were having a problem in regards to having a specific item to pull a driver over, had to be visual and if you didn't have a specific item to pull them over and they were impaired or under the influence of drugs, or whatever, there is a perception that it wouldn't hold up in court," O'Brien said Thursday.

When the change was proposed last spring, St. John's criminal lawyer Bob Simmons said it would give police too much power and could lead to abuse.

"Right now for police to stop people, they have to have a justifiable objective cause. Why is that? Because if we don't have a reasonable rational reason for police to stop someone then the powers can be misused. That's the law as it presently sits," he said in June.

Beginning Friday, texting with a hand-held device while driving will also be illegal. Fines will range from $100 to $400.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/09/30/nl-driving-laws-930.html#ixzz119S727qM