'Stop and detain' counter-terrorism powers may be scaled back
Moves to scale back the most widely drawn counter-terrorism powers left in the police "stop and search" armoury have been initiated by the home secretary, Theresa May.
An official consultation was launched on Thursday on the future of random "stop and detain" powers, which have been used by police special branch officers to question 70,000 travellers a year going through Britain's airports and ports.
The move follows criticism from the government's own official terror laws watchdog and within Muslim communities that people from an Asian background are 42 times more likely than white people to be targeted for these random counter-terrorism interrogations.
The national security powers, introduced under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, allow the police and immigration officers to detain any airline, ferry or train traveller for up to nine hours to determine if they are involved in terrorism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/13/stop-detain-counter-terrorism-scaled-back