By WILLIAM JF PAUL Police stop and search target I AM now associated with the war on terror. Approached by two uniformed British Transport Police officers as I descended the steps into Waverley Station in Edinburgh, I was a little dismayed.
"Good morning, Sir. My colleague and I are stopping you under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act."
The police singling me out and applying "wartime" emergency powers after my morning swim was the last thing I expected on a dull Thursday.
The Terrorism Act covers the UK. Following the failed attacks on Glasgow International Airport on the last day of June, the whole of Scotland has been under a Section 44 order.
It gives police the authority to stop and search anyone and any vehicle. No reason need be given. Originally authorised for 28 days, the order now remains in place for the foreseeable future.
On the steps at Waverley, the two officers cast their eyes over the crowd, made an assessment of me and the threat I posed, and decided to take action.
One officer casually peered inside my bag, while the other exchanged pleasantries with me. It wasn't exactly thorough. I felt I was being stopped to make up numbers.
Only 2 per cent of the Scottish population belongs to the Black or Asian communities, but they are said to be subject to 12 per cent of searches. The suspicion must surely be that I was picked as a representative of the "white" category – another box ticked.
As evidence I now have a pink receipt that records the incident and a sneaking suspicion that recent comments by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, suggesting the indiscriminate use of the stop and search powers at Scottish railway stations was tantamount to harassment, may have provoked a backlash.
Ultimately, it is not the temporary inconvenience that I take issue with, nor the slight embarrassment. What I worry about is what happens now that I am linked, however tenuously, with the war on terror.
The police took my full name, address and date of birth. These details – the top copy of the pink receipt – have, presumably, been fed into some database.
I don't want to obstruct the police in preventing and pre-empting terrorist acts, but I can't help wonderingwhat happens now with my name in the system.
Is that few minutes of questioning now embedded in the system? Nothing was recorded to show the result of the search was a couple of wet towels.
If I, for whatever reason, am in contact with the police again, will my name flash up with the intelligence that I have been questioned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act? Will that change the way I am treated?
Imagine I witness an incident – say an attack on Glasgow Airport – and give a police statement. I have been questioned under Section 44. Does that make me a suspect? Can there be smoke without fire?
The authorities will say no prejudice is implied by the questioning. They will say the data is protected, but recent events do not inspire confidence.
Random stop and search could be counter-productive.
I doubt it makes us safer. Maybe Kenny MacAskill is right.