Nigel Goddard plans new pilot to make stop-and-search use more transparent

Derry police commander Nigel Goddard told the ‘Journal’ he wants to develop new mechanisms to ensure the use of stop-and-search under the Terrorism Act 2000 and Justice & Security (NI) Act 2007 is as open to scrutiny as possible.

Ch/Supt. Goddard hopes the initiative will build ‘police legitimacy’.

“A big thing that drives my sort of ethos and one of the things that made my want to come here and I'm still really interested in is police legitimacy and what makes communities have the perception that the police are legitimate in the actions that they take,” he said.

He acknowledged the use of TACT2000 and JSA2007 in Derry, where more people are stopped under anti-terror laws than anywhere, needs to be as ‘transparent, open and accountable’ as possible.

The Independent Reporting Commission found that of 115 arrests under Section 41 of TACT2000, which allows a police officer to arrest a person without a warrant if he suspects them to be a terrorist, 53 (46%) were in Derry and Strabane and 28 (24%) were in Belfast in 2021/22.

Ch/Supt. Goddard said: “One of the challenges in this area and that dichotomy which can drive people to negative perceptions of legitimacy is around stop and search.”

The police commander wants to improve accountability and ‘myth bust’ around stop-and-search.

"I hope, by being open and transparent and communicating what we do, will break down some of those barriers,” he said.

The police chief said he does not accept that the use of stop-and-search under the anti-terror legislation is no longer necessary.

"Unfortunately, at this point in time they are required and legitimate if we use them properly and appropriately and are transparent about how we use them,” said Chief Superintendent Goddard.

He acknowledged the use of stop-and-search can make it difficult to win hearts and minds and build ‘police legitimacy’ in the city.

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“I get that that kind of hard policing can be used as a barrier and we absolutely try our best to try and ensure that we are delivering neighbourhood, community-style policing,” he said.

Ch/Supt. told the ‘Journal’ he hopes to roll-out the new transparency initiative early in the new year.

He continued: “I'm hoping some of the stuff I'm going to pilot and lead on here around stop-and-search, getting people involved in giving us feedback and learning like that, will help.”

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