Criminal Justice Alliance - Super Complaint

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.

 Dyfed Powys Police has recognised and responded to each of the ten recommendations published in the report, and we have assessed our performance against these. We are satisfied that we already comply with the safeguarding responsibilities regarding children and have a strong and challenging external scrutiny processes regarding our use of stop and search powers, with independent panels having access to unedited body worn video of our searches.

We also continue to roll out an annual training programme for our officers which includes the content covered in the recommendations, and are ensuring that officers who authorise such powers, receive additional training and are expected to conduct and record a thorough briefing and de-brief when they authorise Section 60 powers.

 Dyfed Powys Police have only used Section 60 powers on two occasions in the past year, which were both as a result of a unique public order / protest incident at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli. Since the publication of the recommendations, moving forward we now have plans in place that would ensure communities are consulted, briefed, reassured and the use of these powers including authorisations, briefings and the searches will be independently scrutinised.