Police quizzed over stop-and-search procedures (From Asian Image)

Police quizzed over stop-and-search procedures

2:10pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008

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Scottish Muslims will have quizzed police about "growing disquiet" over the use of anti-terrorist stop-and-search procedures in Scotland.

The Scottish-Islamic Foundation set up a Question Time forum with the police to allow members of the Muslim community to express their feelings about heavy-handed questioning a year after stop- and-search powers were introduced across the UK in the wake of the Glasgow Airport car bomb attack.

There is concern that in some cases "suspects" are visited at home and questioned about internet sites they have viewed, fuelling fears that they are under surveillance. The foundation says that stop-and-search procedures should be strictly intelligence-led.

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, at the Home Secretary's discretion, allows police to stop and search any individual acting suspiciously.

Although Scottish police have been using the power sparingly, it is claimed the approach has not been adopted by the London-controlled British Transport Police.

The foundation says 14,000 random stop and searches were carried out in Scotland in the six months after the June 30 attack - most by the British Transport Police. By contrast Strathclyde Police have carried out around 130.

It is claimed that non-white people are six times more likely to be targeted.

By MARTIN WILLIAMS (The Herald)

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