Latest news with #policePowers
BBC News
22-06-2025
- BBC News
Broadstairs dispersal order extended as Margate order introduced
A dispersal order put in place to deter anti-social behaviour in a town in Kent has been extended, while police have been granted similar powers in a neighbouring order issued in Broadstairs started at 16:30 BST on Friday and was due to finish at 16:30 on Saturday, but will remain in place until Sunday afternoon.A separate 48-hour order has been introduced in Margate amid ongoing concerns relating to issues caused by a small minority of young people in some public areas, police dispersal orders, which grant officers additional powers to instruct people to leave specific areas, cover the town centres, as well as the seafronts and surrounding streets. While in place, officers also have additional powers to stop and search individuals without reasonable dispersed from the area during this period risks being arrested, should they said issues in the towns included under-age street drinking, fighting and reports of aggressive behaviour towards staff at shops.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sweeping move-on police powers blasted by protesters
Controversial new laws grant police an unconstitutional level of power and could have a chilling effect on protests, critics have claimed in a court challenge. Josh Lees, on behalf of the Palestinian Action Group, has taken the NSW government to the NSW Supreme Court over the anti-protest laws implemented in February. The activist is challenging the constitutional validity of police powers to move people on during protests deemed to be near places of worship. His lawyers argue the laws allow police to direct protesters to desist, even in instances where there is no evidence a worshipper has been obstructed, harassed or is in fear. That meant the laws have stretched police powers beyond their legitimate constitutional bounds, the court was told. The lawyers claim neither police nor protesters can determine the reach of those powers or the definition of nearness to a place of worship to take into consideration. "Because of those vagaries, the upshot is that a person might just stay home," Craig Lenehan SC told the court. He took aim at the "legislative blunderbuss" which he said was "blasting away at an ill-defined mischief" and could have a chilling effect on protesting in NSW. The laws were discriminatory because they expressly targeted certain types of political speech in a way that inevitably favoured some viewpoints over others, Mr Lenehan contended. When deciding to move on protesters, police needed to make a subjective determination of whether someone feels obstructed or fearful near a place of worship. That could be extended beyond worshippers to the protection of passers-by and people unconnected to the holy place, Mr Lenehan said. "(It) is a very broad police power conferred by very ill-defined application," he said. "It has nothing to do with the exercise of religious freedom." NSW Solicitor General Michael Sexton SC will address the court about the validity of the new legislation on behalf of the state government on Thursday afternoon. The laws were introduced by the state Labor government after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks across the nation and amid concerns about rallies going past the Great Synagogue in the Sydney CBD. Before their passage, Attorney-General Michael Daley said stronger penalties and boosted police powers would ensure people could practise their faith in safety. "We believe these proposed reforms strike the right balance between protecting people of faith and the community's right to protest," he said. Premier Chris Minns underscored his determination to protect the Jewish community in his first speech to parliament in 2025. "We will not be a state where someone feels like they have to remove their yarmulke (skullcap) just to walk down the street, where people are made to hide their heritage because of the ignorance, the bigotry, the racism of other people," he said. Mr Lees said the challenge against the expanded police powers was urgent because they presented a threat to the right to protest in NSW.
BBC News
14-06-2025
- BBC News
Kirkby police given extra powers after town centre trouble
Police have been given extra powers after a rise in criminal damage, abuse of shop staff and dangerous bike riding in a town Sunday night they will be able to arrest anyone who comes back into part of Kirkby, Merseyside, if they have previously been told to leave. Officers will also be able to seize any items that they suspect might be used to commit antisocial behaviour. Merseyside Police Insp Andy Robinson said the powers were not given or used lightly, but were necessary after a recent increase in trouble-making in the area. The area covered by the Section 60 dispersal order includes everywhere within a neighbourhood bordered by County Road, Webster Drive, Cherryfield Drive, and Hall order runs until 01:00 BST on Sunday. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Expanded ‘Jack's law' police powers could lead to further ‘surveillance and harassment' of some Queenslanders, expert warns
Vulnerable and marginalised Queenslanders could be subjected to 'surveillance and harassment' under strengthened laws permitting police to detain and search any person anywhere in the state, the lead author of the only state-funded report into them has warned. 'Jack's law' permits police to randomly detain any person to search them with a metal detecting wand without the normal requirement that they reasonably suspect the person of a crime. However the powers are now limited to specific locations such as supermarkets, train stations and nightclub districts. The government says the law enables police to prevent knife violence. Parliament is expected to pass legislation on Wednesday expanding the law to include any public place in Queensland, and removing a sunset clause so that Jack's law – which first came into effect in May 2021 – becomes permanent. Prof Janet Ransley of Griffith University's criminology institute was commissioned by the state government in 2021 to review a year-long trial of the powers that ran from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022 . At the time, Jack's law – which was named after 17-year-old murder victim Jack Beasley, who was stabbed to death in 2019 – only applied on the Gold Coast. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Ransley's review found evidence that 'a small number of officers' were wanding people because of 'non-offending behaviours' such as being in groups, and warned there was a risk of 'stereotypes and discrimination'. Despite a recommendation from Ransley's 2022 report, the review remains the only independent assessment of the program, Ransley said. Ransley said the 'worst case scenario' would be for the expanded version of Jack's law to be used as 'another form of surveillance and harassment of those people who are already over surveilled' in Queensland. 'That includes First Nations people. It includes homeless people. It includes people with mental health issues who are visible on the streets.' She said it could also adversely affect vulnerable young people staying in a public place to flee family or sexual violence at home. 'It increases the level of intrusiveness into those vulnerable people's lives, without providing any support or mechanism for them to avoid that.' According to police statistics, 83% of the 100,611 people wanded since Jack's law came into effect were male. Of people with known ethnic origin, 11.8% were Indigenous – despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up only 4.6% of Queensland's population, according to census figures. A survey of 6,705 people scanned at shopping centres showed that 76% were male, and 55% were younger than 18. During another year-long trial that ended in June 2024, police laid more charges for drug possession – 1,384 – than for knife offences, of which 413 were recorded. 'There's no evidence that it's in any way effective in actually reducing knife related violence, which is the whole premise of the law,' Ransley said. The police minister, Dan Purdie, said the law 'is working' and the Crisafulli government 'makes no apology' for taking 'strong action against knife crime'. 'Since April 2023, police have conducted more than 116,000 wandings, made more than 3,000 arrests and seized more 1,100 weapons,' Purdie said. 'In that time, just one complaint has been lodged – proof officers are using these powers professionally and responsibly.' Purdie has previously said there would be a number of safeguards, including the requirement that a senior officer must sign off on wanding operations outside statutory areas such as nightclub districts. He said in April that police had 'shown they can be trusted with the legislation' and that other states 'are now taking our lead'. A range of legal bodies opposed the Crisafulli government's expansion of the law in submissions to a parliamentary committee inquiry earlier this year. The Queensland Human Rights Commission submission warned the legislation 'provides for the broad, unfettered use of hand held scanners' and that the 'limitations placed on human rights' were 'unlikely to be justified'. Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said 'it abrogates a fundamental protection of individual liberty, by removing the requirement of a police officer to have a reasonable suspicion prior to conducting a search of a person.' Labor is expected to back the legislation this week. Ransley's review also recommended the government conduct another inquiry, but Purdie refused to commit to one on Wednesday.
