Clause 8 - Power to stop and search at aerodromes
Police and Justice Bill
6:15 pm
Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
The clause introduces a new power for the police to stop and search any person at an aerodrome. It uses “aerodrome”, rather than airport, which sounds fairly old fashioned, because apparently that has a wider meaning and covers major airports, as well as airfields used only by private flying clubs. That was news to me.
The lack of appropriate stop-and-search power has been an obstacle to the police when conducting anti-smuggling operations and particularly in detecting staff collusion in theft. The current powers available to the police are not sufficient to provide a comprehensive deterrent, because airports are strange places—sometimes they are private property, with restricted access—providing significant opportunities for criminal and terrorist activity. Minor criminal activity could be exploited by terrorists, with disproportionate effects.
Police powers at airports are variable, depending on whether the airport has been designated. There are currently nine designated airports in the country where police constables have additional stop-and-search powers that are not available at non-designated airports. That is why it is important to get a consistent set of powers across different kinds of airports.