Stop And Search On Kids 'Should Be Illegal'

A Scottish Labour leadership candidate wants police searches of children made illegal and consensual stop and searches stopped.

Ken Macintosh's call comes as figures show 427,000 Scots were searched last year.

The rate has dropped 40 percent in the past two years, in 2013 the 683,000 searches were conducted.

Critics say the practice is "considerably higher" in Scotland than in England and Wales.

A six month pilot of the practice was undertaken in Fife last year amid growing criticism.

A report by the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research found the number of recorded searches on 16-year-olds in Glasgow was greater than the number of 16-year-olds in the city as a whole.

'Quite staggering'

Mr Macintosh raised concerns after being approached by a young constituent who claimed he had been stopped several times in his car and more recently whilst out walking.

Mr Macintosh said the figures are "quite staggering".

He said: "I entirely support the police in doing their job and keeping us all safe but my area, East Renfrewshire, has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.  

"Now we find that police are stopping and searching local residents on average 20-times a day.  It’s very difficult to accept that these searches were all ‘evidence led’ as is supposed to be the case.”

Scottish officers have the power to stop and search someone if they have reasonable grounds to suspect them of being in possession of drugs, an offensive weapon, stolen property, more than £1,000 that may be proceeds of crime, or fireworks for anti-social use.

Unlike those in England and Wales, police here can also ask someone to consent to a stop and search in circumstances when they have no legal power. In the past year, three quarters of recorded searches on 14 year-olds were non-statutory, according to the report.

Mr Macintosh added:  “My worry is that instead of making us feel more secure, this approach will poison relations between the police and young people in the area and create an atmosphere of mistrust. 

"The reason I made my inquiry was because a young constituent complained of feeling harassed and picked on with no justification.  We know that almost two thirds of stop and searches across Scotland involve people under the age of 25.

"The Scottish Government needs to act now to outlaw non-statutory or so called consensual stop and searches and to legislate to protect Scotland's children from being subject to this unnecessary and indefensible practice.”

Earlier this year, it was revealed that children under the age of 12 were still being stopped and searched in Scotland despite assurances to a Holyrood Committee from Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson that the practice was ‘indefensible’.