Check on police power to stop suspects

Police officers will soon have to hand everyone they stop in the street a form giving details of the encounter.

The proposal, intended to reduce racism, was put forward by the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Its implementation was announced yesterday by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, with proposals to cut red tape, but was criticised by rank and file officers as time-consuming and bureaucratic.

In another change, Mr Blunkett said officers would be encouraged to take meal and coffee breaks at fast-food chains and other restaurants in a move to increase police presence, a practice already used in the United States.

The proposal by the Lawrence inquiry is for police to issue a certificate to every person they stop in the street in non-statutory or so called "voluntary stops", rather than just to those they stop and search, as at present. The certificate will record the person's name, address and ethnic origin, with the reason and outcome of the stop. It is designed to track whether officers are unfairly stopping large numbers of blacks and Asians and to provide greater public accountability and transparency.

Mr Blunkett told the Police Superintendents' Association national conference in Chester yesterday that the measure would be tested to find the simplest way of completing the questionnaire before it was adopted nationally.

Confirmation that the scheme will be implemented will concern some officers who feel it will be a bureaucratic nightmare. The Police Federation, representing nearly all the 130,000 officers in England and Wales, saidabout seven minutes would be needed to fill out a form. A spokeswoman for the federation said: "While we understand that the police service has to be accountable, we have expressed concerns that the new forms will take a long time to fill in and add to the workload of officers."

Jan Berry, the chairwoman of the federation, added: "We welcome a re-examination of stop and search in order to simplify recording procedures."

As part of the plan for officers to take their 45-minute meal break in public places, the Government is negotiating deals with supermarkets and restaurant chains. The Home Office said officers would get discounts on food if they ate away from police stations. The measure will provide greater police presence at no added cost.

Mr Blunkett highlighted a scheme in the West Midlands. In the West Bromwich division officers on duty eat in restaurants and supermarkets, some of which offer discounts to the police. A spokeswoman for Asda said the supermarket giant would be interested in joining the scheme.

The proposal was one of 52 recommendations made in a review of police bureaucracy by Sir David O'Dowd, a former chief inspector of constabulary. He said: "[The police] are not looking for a free meal. This is already working very successfully in the West Midlands."

Among the other O'Dowd measures being adopted by the Home Office is a new power for police officers to deal with arrestable crimes on the street without having to take a suspect into custody.

The so-called "street bail" scheme, in which suspects would go to a police station unaccompanied at a later date, would save time because officers would not have to spend hours processing an arrest.

Forces will also be encouraged to make better use of retired officers, and provide officers due to give evidence with pagers so they do not waste time waiting outside court. They will also scrap or simplify many of the 250 different forms the police use.