Heard the one about police fighting two year old terrorists?

Should powers designed to fight terrorism in the wake of 9/11 be used on people as young as two years old?

Today a number of news sites report on figures from Metropolitan police:

“The official reviewer of terrorism legislation today criticised the Metropolitan police after it emerged that the force had stopped and searched 58 children aged nine or younger using terrorism powers designed to fight al-Qaida.

The children were stopped in 2008 and all were under the criminal age of responsibility, which is 10. None are believed to have been found to have been involved in terrorism.

According to figures from the Metropolitan Police Authority, in 2008 the Met used terrorism laws to stop and search 10 girls aged nine or under, and 48 boys. A total of 2,331 children aged 15 or under were stopped by Met officers using terrorism powers.

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 gives police the power to stop and search people in areas deemed by senior officers to be at risk of terrorism. A constable does not need to have reasonable suspicion, and use of the power has been controversial.”

This was taken from the Guardian.

Regular readers of these postings will already know my views on toughening up of police powers over the past decade and how there is little proof that these can be balanced against evidence that they reduce crime. This latest news adds further fuel to this debate.