PRITI PATEL’S decision to lift restrictions on “suspicionless” stop and search will worsen existing divisions between police and communities, civil rights groups have warned. 

In a letter to police forces today, the Home Secretary announced the permanent easing of restrictions on the use of the tactic under section 60 of the Criminal the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

Section 60 powers allow officers to search people without reasonable grounds in an area when they expect serious violence and to look for weapons, either before they can be used or those used in a recent attack.