The Criminal Justice Bill will give police forces powers to ban activities in public spaces.

But a new Manifesto Club report finds that the police are ‘completely unqualified’ to enact the powers (known as ‘Public Spaces Protection Orders’), and the Bill would allow officers to ‘stamp their wish lists into law’.

The Manifesto Club report argues that ‘Police forces are not democratically accountable, and do not have processes for scrutinising or consulting on new laws’.

The report also criticises plans in the Criminal Justice Bill to extend Community Protection Notices and other powers, and shows how existing powers are poorly assessed and widely misused.

Report author Josie Appleton says:

The Manifesto Club receives unjust cases every week, which suggests that misuse is widespread. The main result of increasingly slack powers with even heavier penalties will be more injustices. These powers are taking the police into areas they have no business, such as the feeding of stray cats and leaves falling on drives, which is wasting their time and leading to misery for innocent members of the public.

Read the Manifesto Club report ‘The Police Use and Abuse of ASB powers’.