Originally Posted by
BD1959
From the
Metropolitan Police (London) website:
Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, gives police the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time when they believe, with good reason, that: there is the possibility of serious violence; or that a person is carrying a dangerous object or offensive weapon.
ie Without an offence being detected.
I daresay, there are other police agencies
around the world with even less restrictions on how they can act, than the Met!
Oh puh-leeze, you are honestly citing a jurisdiction where personal rights have been so eroded that they are almost non-existent?
(This is getting way off-topic now). Try brushing up on the Police and Criminal Evidence Act to see just how much the right to silence has been reduced.
In Australia, police agencies can only intervene if they have reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence is about to be, is being or has been committed. That is it, under common law.
An airport, being subject to different legislation compared to other places, might be different, but it certainly wasn't when I worked there (although that is getting on to about 16 years ago now).
I still think ground staff should have called on medical syaff to assess whether the passenger was fit to board, and that it was not a police matter at that stage.
Dave