Sparrow
Veteran
His hero is probably the main character in Hot Fuzz.
Ya, but if one is being overrun by mime-artists that’s what it takes
His hero is probably the main character in Hot Fuzz.
Section 44 is a provision in the UK's Terrorism Act of 2000. Note that's before 9/11; the act has antecedents rooted in the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Section 44 empowers the Home Secretary and the police to designate any area in the country as one in which they can stop and search anyone or any vehicle and seize articles which could be used in connection with terrorism. Police are not required to have a reasonable suspicion to stop and search someone.
I believe the police or not required to announce which regions have been designated under Section 44.
Section 41 of the Terrorism Act allowed the police to arrest and hold someone without charge for up to 48 hours on suspicions of being a terrorist. The Terrorism Act of 2006 extended the amount of time a person can be held without charge to 28 days.
In other words, UK police can put you in jail for 28 days without charging you with anything for the act of using a camera.
[EDIT: I disagree with these provisions, but it might help Americans to at least grasp the political environment in which they were passed to understand that the UK, especially London, has had much more direct experience with terror over the last 30-40 years than the U.S. These are the kind of laws democracies create when they are frightened.]
Related in the sense of being a paranoid government: I teach at a school in The Netherlands, which runs a lot of exchange programs, including one with a UK school.
Current school year might be the last year with them, the British government is demanding that ALL adults the British high school children come into contact with in The Netherlands, will submit a 'certificate of good behaviour' to the British school board. This includes teachers, parents of the guest family and even relatives of these that come over for an afternoon visit while the student is staying with the host family.
In effect, this makes any exchange impossible. Parents simply sign their children up for different exchange programs, since they are not amused by being treated as possible criminals by a foreign government. The UK will be the only country in the EU that require these certificates, coming into effect summer 2010.
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act
The name alone is embarassing enough already 🙄
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A sad state of affairs indeed but I think we are partially to blame for letting things go on like this. If everything continues as it is now I think we are toast, and then we will really have deserved it.
wait... they're letting untrained volunteers polices the streets???? Most people that would volunteer for this are either looking for a power trip... or scared, fearful people that see terrorism everywhere.... exactly what you're looking for in a police force 😛
Doesn't this seem strangely reminiscent of the Gestapo's volunteer enforcer/informant squads?
Hey you guys make us feel abandoned 😛 Don't go to London; York or Bath or Scotland would do just fine, there's hardly any police up in the highland 😛
I admit that landscape in scotland is something I can't wait to see 🙂Hey you guys make us feel abandoned 😛 Don't go to London; York or Bath or Scotland would do just fine, there's hardly any police up in the highland 😛