According to the North Belfast News, “police have agreed to step up their stop and search of ‘suspicious’ cars and people” in the Oldpark/Ardoyne area of North Belfast. Apparently at the request of the local Marrowbone Residents Group. According to the report,
John McAlea from Marrowbone Residents Group said,
“After talking about the drugs problem with police they have agreed to boost their stop and searching in the area,” he said.
“We are really pushing them on the issue because we feel like they need to be giving more attention to this and doing more checks in the Oldpark area.
Not that the police have been scrimping on the use of stop and search/question powers up ’til now. And we can now start to see the effect of the, 7 July 2010, suspension of the use of section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The latest Quarterly Report of PSNI Stop and Search Statistics [pdf file] reveals that from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, across Northern Ireland, the number of stop and search/questions under all available legislation was 45,394.
That’s 8,461 lower than the number of stop and search/questions under all available legislation between 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 [pdf file] – 53,855.
Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009 [pdf file] that figure was 30,045.
In North Belfast, in 2008/09, 252 people were stopped and searched about drugs under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence).
In 2009/10 that figure had risen to 807.
We don’t have the corresponding figures for 2010/11 apart from the last Quarter, 1 January 2011 to 31 March 2011, figure of 91 from 227 stopped and searched under PACE – total stopped and searched in the area 528.
What we do have is the increasing use of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007, Sections 21 and 24, in place of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, section 44. Although section 44 wasn’t completely abandoned on 7 July 2010.
Number of Persons stopped and searched/stopped and questioned by each legislation used – by Quarter from 1 April 2009 through to 31 March 2011. From the latest Quarterly report
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under PACE
|
5,346
|
6,312
|
6,286
|
6,046
|
5,997
|
5,691
|
5,551
|
5,511
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under PACE & JSA 21
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
8
|
14
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under PACE & JSA 24
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
7
|
6
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACT S43
|
15
|
34
|
27
|
21
|
31
|
139
|
72
|
57
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACT S44
|
3,143
|
9,460
|
4,841
|
6,586
|
6,992
|
271
|
1
|
–
|
|
Number of persons stopped under TACTS44 and questioned under JSA Section 21
|
428
|
1,676
|
945
|
1,691
|
1,849
|
43
|
–
|
–
|
|
Number of persons stopped and questioned under JSA Section 21
|
56
|
184
|
54
|
83
|
86
|
334
|
513
|
494
|
|
Number of persons stopped under JSA Section 24 and questioned under JSA Section 21
|
10
|
14
|
28
|
116
|
26
|
519
|
892
|
530
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under JSA Section 24
|
86
|
165
|
90
|
112
|
147
|
2,385
|
4,152
|
3,000
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACT S43 & JSA S21
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
10
|
5
|
4
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACT S43 & JSA S24 & JSA S21
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
1
|
15
|
6
|
6
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACT S43 & JSA S24
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
1
|
6
|
10
|
12
|
|
Number of persons stopped and searched under TACTS44 and JSA Section 24
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
|
Total Persons stopped and searched/questioned*
|
9,084
|
17,845
|
12,271
|
14,655
|
15,130
|
9,413
|
11,217
|
9,634
|
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