Dorset Police news site

A special stop and search power will be in place in parts of Bournemouth town centre in response to recent violent incidents and to prevent further offences.

The Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was authorised for part of Bournemouth seafront, through Bournemouth Lower Gardens and The Square and allows officers to stop and search anyone in the area for weapons, without needing to explain why. It will be in place from 6pm on Friday 11 August for 24 hours until 6pm on Saturday 12 August 2023. The power can be reviewed and extended for a further 24 hours, if appropriate.

This emergency power has been implemented in response to a fatal stabbing in the area, other recent incidents of violence and concern that further violence may take place.

Section 60 can be implemented in areas where either serious violence has occurred or police believe serious violence is about to occur and gives officers the power to stop and search anyone in a designated location, without the restrictions of normal stop and search.

Officers will be proactively patrolling the area defined in the map as part of Op Fireglow and Op Nightjar to apprehend those individuals looking to cause serious violence and carrying dangerous instruments or offensive weapons.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Mark Callaghan said: “The threshold to implement a Section 60 power is very high and we have taken the decision to use it over this weekend as a tactic to keep communities safe and do all we can to prevent serious violence.

“While Dorset remains the sixth safest county in the country, we are aware of the very real concern among our communities in relation to recent incidents of serious violence and knife crime.

“Some young people think that carrying a knife will provide them protection, however, statistics show that carrying a knife or weapon actually means you are more likely to end up being hurt yourself as you can be seen as the threat.

“I hope by using this power we can provide reassurance to our communities that we are doing all we can to reduce these offences and prevent other people from coming to harm. We have engaged with our community groups and independent advisory groups as part of this work.

“It should also send out a very strong message to those individuals who choose to carry knives that we simply will not tolerate it and will relentlessly pursue you. If you go out armed with a knife, there is a very high chance that you will be stopped by officers and searched. The maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife is four years in prison.

“We only use Section 60 as an emergency short-term tactic and this sits alongside a wide range of partnership and preventative work that is already taking place to tackle serious violence, including visiting people known to vary knives, offering talks to schools and sharing information between agencies to identify possible young offenders early.”