Police call for tightened terror laws
Senior police officers are urging the government to increase the amount of time terrorist suspects can be held from the current period of a fortnight to three months.
At a meeting with the prime minister yesterday, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) called for increased powers to clamp down on terrorists in the wake of the London bombings on July 7th.
The planned Downing Street meeting came as the capital was forced into a security alert once again with the discovery of four unexploded bombs on the transport system.
In a statement released after the meeting, the ACPO said it backed plans announced by the home secretary to create an offence of acts preparatory to terrorism, an offence of indirect incitement to criminal acts and an offence of providing or receiving terrorist training.
But it pushed for further changes to anti-terror laws, including extending the maximum time suspects can be held under terror laws from 14 days to three months.
This would enable investigations to be carried out with maximum efficiency and to allow for all evidence to be gathered, it said.
In addition, the association backed calls for further discussions on the use of intercept evidence in court. The use of such evidence has so far been rejected on the advice of the security services.
However, on prompting by Conservative leader Michael Howard, the prime minister on Wednesday agreed that the London bombings justified re-opening discussions on the issue.
“The terrorist attacks in London on July 7th and today provide an opportunity for us to reflect on our systems and practices to ensure they are sufficient to counter such unprecedented events,” said ACPO terrorism chairman Ken Jones.
“All police forces in the UK are working closely with the Metropolitan police in the investigation of the incidents, and our counter terrorism legislation is sophisticated and robust – yet practice and experience shows us that nothing is flawless.
“We now have an opportunity to examine our system and close loopholes to prevent the recurrence of such acts.”
The ACPO also said police should be able to obtain warrants allowing all premises belonging to terrorist suspects to be searched, and should be able to increase search powers at ports.
It called for the creation of an offence not to disclose encryption codes, and for legislation to crack down on those who use the internet to promote the cause of international terrorism.
