“The courts have failed to ensure equal protection under the law in their rulings on the use of stop and search powers’. Discuss.

  • In seeking to protect the rights of the majority, the police at times infringe certain individual rights, such as the right to privacy and to freedom of movement and association. However, they are only permitted to do so if the infringement is rational, proportionate and lawful.
  • Evidence shows that, on the contrary, some police forces are using their powers disproportionately suggesting they are stopping and searching individuals in a way that is discriminatory, inefficient, and a waste of public money.
  • Such an approach to policing erodes trust and makes cooperation harder, not just between police forces and the groups who are singled out, but also among the wider public, who are ill at ease with the idea of the state intruding unnecessarily into individuals’ private lives and their freedom to go about their business.

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