Dear Mr Hill,

Richard Taylor has sent me your email to him of 11 July regarding your force’s action in regard to Stop and Account.

In your email you state in regard to the Codes: ‘These codes of Practice are not primary legislation but guidance associated with the Act. Whilst as a constabulary we will always seek to apply Codes of Practice where they exist, there is a need to move away from the guidance on this occasion to enable the trial of a process which may secure benefits to both public and police alike. . . We therefore want to explore if there is a better way of administering the process ….’

I do not share your view that the Codes are ‘guidance’. The only part of the Codes that are guidance are the Notes for Guidance. Apart from them, the provisions of the Codes are rules approved by both Houses of Parliament that have to be followed. In my view it is therefore not open to a police force to undertake DIY setting aside of any of the provisions of the Codes - however sensible the objective.

I am informed that your force is in active re-consideration of this issue with the Home Office and would be grateful to be told what is the state of play.

I intend to publish something about the matter to draw attention to what seems to me to be a dangeorus misconception regarding the status of the Codes.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Zander QC
Emeritus Professor of Law, LSE, author of
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (5th ed. 2005)
and member of the Home Office’s PACE Review Board

Mr Fuller,

Thank you for seeking this further reply to my concerns.

I am shocked to see the police officer dismiss the PACE codes as: “not primary legislation”, the PACE codes are drafted by ministers and approved by both houses of parliament, while I agree the codes are not primary legislation, I disagree with the police officer’s implication that therefore compliance with the PACE codes is voluntary. I find the police ignoring the will of parliament in this way very worrying.

Mr Hill has not addressed my questions surrounding the end of the trial; When will it end? Will the form come back into use at the end of the trial? Who will review the results of the trial? Is there an opportunity for the results of the Cambridgeshire trial to be collated with the officially announced home office trial? I am not suggesting you ask Mr Hill to write to me again, but it would be good to see the answers to these questions enter the public domain.

Now that I have a clear admission that the police in Cambridgeshire are knowingly and willingly ignoring the PACE codes I will be able to pursue this more easily and effectively with members of the police authority and my MP.

Richard Taylor
Cambridge.