Criminal Justice Alliance super complaint – Cambridgeshire Constabulary`s response

In May 2021, the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) submitted a super-complaint. Following an investigation, a recent report published in December 2023 by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), found that police forces should improve how they explain and evaluate their use of section 60 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, which relate to stop search powers.

Section 29A of the Police Reform Act 2002 defines a super-complaint as a complaint where “a feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales by one or more police force is, or appears to be, significantly harming the interests of the public”.

The super-complaint system is designed to examine problems of local, regional or national significance that may not be addressed by existing complaints systems. The super-complaint, entitled ‘More harm than good’, raises the CJA’s concerns about “harms caused by ‘suspicion-less’ stop and searches and inadequate scrutiny of stop and search powers”.

The ‘suspicion-less’ stop and searches to which the CJA refers are those the police carry out using their powers under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (which we subsequently refer to in this report as ‘section 60’). A section 60 authorisation gives the police powers to stop and search people and vehicles, without suspicion, for “offensive weapons or dangerous instruments” for incidents involving serious violence. These powers only apply to a designated locality in a police force area for a set period.

The HMICFRS report makes ten recommendations, of which three are for chief constables.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary has assessed its performance against the recommendations and has responded to each of them.

We are proud to say that we already comply with the safeguarding responsibilities regarding children. The current process is further strengthened by the introduction of mandatory supervisory review of every stop and search record. Cambridgeshire Constabulary has a strong and challenging external scrutiny processes regarding our use of stop and search powers. Independent panels have access to unedited body worn video of our searches.

Powers under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are not used in Cambridgeshire very often. During 2023 in Cambridgeshire Constabulary Section 60 powers were authorised only on one occasion, and during this time, no searches were conducted.  Cambridgeshire Constabulary has a well established annual training programme for our officers, which includes the content covered in the recommendations. The training programme is designed for officer authorising the powers but also for those conducting searches.

When powers under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are used, we have an established protocol where communities are consulted, briefed and reassured about the use of these powers.

We are pleased to say that Cambridgeshire Constabulary has an effective briefing and debriefing procedures in place for any activities related to section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. We record all stop search encounters on body worn video (BWV) and as a result of the recommendation in the report, going forward Cambridgeshire Constabulary will be recording all briefings related to section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 activities.

To view the full report, visit the HMICFRS website