Closed petition Remove the requirement of "reasonable grounds" for stop and search

Closed on 13 April 2024

Currently the ability for police to use stop and search powers without reasonable grounds can only be used in anticipation of, or following an incident involving serious violence, for up to 24 hours under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

A section 60 is only put into action after an incident. Section 60 should be permanent, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, giving the police powers to stop and search whenever they see fit. Hopefully this will lower the amount of people carrying a knife/bladed article.

With the number of families who are living without loved ones due to knife crime and an increase in the amount of knife crimes across the UK something needs to be done. Police can only act on a section 60 for 24/48 hours after an incident, this needs to be permanent to give them more power to stop and search. We need to keep the public safe and I believe this will help.