PM Brown creating Police State

Sean O’Neill Crime Editor at The Times October 28, 2009

The Labour Government, hot foot from the Terrorism Act 2000 disgrace, are now creating a similar disgrace with the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Why are they so keen to use such heavy anti-democratic legislation against ordinary members of the public.

In a different part of the world it would be viewed as the creation of a police state prior to cancelling democratic elections.
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Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt.

The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property will be given to town hall officials and civilian investigators employed by organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, the Rural Payments Agency and Transport for London.

The measure, being pushed through by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, comes into force next week and will deploy some of the most powerful tools available to detectives against fare dodgers, families in arrears with council tax and other minor offenders.

The radical extension of the Proceeds of Crime Act, through a Statutory Instrument which is not debated by parliament, has been condemned by the chairman of the Police Federation.