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126 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005carry ID, though when stopped they could be asked to produce it at a police stationwithin two days. In the case of Willcock v Muckle, Mr Willcock refused to go to thepolice station with his ID card. By the time of Willcock’s refusal to comply, thepurposes for the scheme had extended from the original 3 to 39, including theprevention of bigamous marriages. 336The Government has made frequent claims that the reason for implementing identitycards in the UK is that the police have requested it. The Police Federation informed theHome Affairs Committee that in calling for identity cards, the police are also asking forthe power to compel production:“Stop and Search procedures will be greatly improved following theintroduction of identity cards.”Similarly, if the aim of the card is to combat illegal immigration, it must be combinedwith a stop and search component if it is to be effective. It must also be compulsory tohave the card in order to allow for immigration checks at work. If the Government istruly aiming to combat illegal immigration, then it will eventually have to introduceproduction powers. In order to meet its legislative goals, the law will have to bechanged, ‘ramped up’, to a compulsory regime.During the House of Commons Debates on Monday 20 th December 2004 on the topic ofthe Identity Cards Bill, the Home Secretary was questioned by the Conservative MP,Francis Maude, on this exact issue.“Mr. Maude: The suspicion that many of us have and the reason whywe feel that the police are so enthusiastic about this is that it is anincremental process. First, there will be a voluntary scheme.Gradually, as the money will have been spent on it, it can then beargued that the only way of getting value for that money is byintroducing compulsion, which will then mean carrying the card at alltimes. It is a salami-slicing process, which is why so many people arevery suspicious about it. ”“Mr. Clarke: I have no sympathy with the “thin end of the wedge”argument. People may have argued when national registration ofbirths was introduced in 1837 that they would at some time arrive in asociety in which everybody operated in a “1984” type of world. Thatis nonsense; it simply has no substance.” 337There is some substance to Mr Maude’s argument: Studies demonstrate that‘compulsion by stealth’ is a likely consequence. 338 Concerns regarding function creep336 ‘Supplementary memorandum by the Information Commissioner (VOT 23(b))’, submitted to the SelectCommittee on Constitutional Affairs,http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmodpm/243/243we28.htm337 Hansard, House of Commons debate, December 20, 2004.338 ‘POLICING THE COMMUNITY: The Impact of National Identity Cards in the European Union’, Adrian Beckand Kate Broadhurst (Scarman Centre for the Study of Public Order), 1998, published in the Journal of EuropeanMigration Studies.
The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 127are understandable, particularly in light of Government reliance on secondarylegislation.During the same debate, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home Affairs pointedout the Government’s intention, expressed in their regulatory impact assessment, thatservice providers should only ask certain groups for proof of identification will notmerely create cultural problems, but also serious legal problems. He stated:“Linking illegal working to ID cards will lead – bluntly – to peoplewho do not look British being stopped”.Douglas Hogg (Conservative MP) also reiterated these concerns:“Bearing it in mind that the stated purposes of the scheme are tocombat terrorism and illegal immigration, we can also be sure thatthose powers will be used most vigorously against ethnic minorities”.Jeremy Corbyn (Labour MP) picked up on the same theme, voicing fears of “theprofiling of individuals to decide whether they should be stopped and searched” and that“various agencies will decide to check whether people with certain ethnic attributeshave a card”. David Curry (Conservative MP) echoed their concerns about thedifficulties that could be caused by too great a focus upon members of minority ethniccommunities.The Current Environment of Race and Police PowersFor several years, the possible existence of a subculture of ‘institutional racism’ in theoperations of the UK police force was investigated through a number of inquiries. Thesestudies, most notably the ‘The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report’, attempted toprescribe a number of remedies. The issue of ‘stop and search’ by the police is mostoften identified as a concrete manifestation of such racism. Annual figures point to thedisproportionate exercise of these powers towards ethnic minority groups. In thissection we will primarily deal with the main powers used to stop and search individualsand then proceed to examine the predicted impact that the introduction of identity cardswill exert on race relations.The most common power used to conduct a stop and search is provided by s1 of thePolice and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). This allows a police officer to searchan individual if he has reasonable grounds to suspect that he will find stolen orprohibited articles. A further power to stop and search is provided by s60 of theCriminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. If a police officer, of or above the rank ofInspector, reasonably believes that incidents involving serious violence may take placeor that persons are carrying dangerous instruments or weapons without good reason, hemay give an authorisation for a period of up to 24 hours, in any locality in his policearea, that police constables may stop and search any individual or vehicle for offensiveweapons or dangerous instruments, whether or not he has any grounds for suspectingthat the individual is carrying articles of the kind mentioned.The third important power to stop and search is provided by s44 of the Terrorism Act2000. This grants police officers the power to stop and search for articles that could be
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