Stop and search powers being used on children as young as two

August 17, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

www.dailymail.co.uk

Children as young as two are being stopped and searched by police, it has emerged.

All the 16 police forces in England and Wales have admitted regularly stopping children aged under 10 to search them for drugs, weapons or stolen goods.

In just one year police stopped more than 4,000 under-10s as part of a major a clampdown on crime.

But several forces across the UK also admitted to carrying out stop and searches on children as young as two.

The Metropolitan Police has searched eight two-year-olds and nine three-year-olds in the past two years while Durham police searched two three-year-olds and South Yorkshire searched one three-year-old.

Other forces would not give a breakdown by age but MPs say the new figures point to a rise in ’social breakdown.’

James Brokenshire, the shadow home affairs minister, said: ‘These figures tell their own story of the social breakdown facing some communities for the police to even consider searching such very young children.

‘Ministers have been woeful in monitoring the use of searches of children. Whilst stop-and-search is an essential tool to deal with youth violence, it is important that we get a much better picture of when searches of children are being made.’

The powers to stop and search children were used despite the fact they were under the criminal age of responsibility, which is 10 in England and Wales, meaning none could be charged with offences. Read full article…