The Section 60 legislation - which gave police extended powers to stop and search across the Slough Borough -ceased at 2pm today, exactly a week after it was first introduced.

It is an infrequently used power which has allowed police officers in Slough to search anyone whether they had reasonable grounds to do so or not over the last seven days.

Its aim has been to tackle incidents of serious violence following two knife attacks within four days, one of them fatal. The legislation does not envisage that this power can be used indefinitely, and during its use in Slough it has been the subject of regular review at least every 24 hours.

 

Although Section 60 has ceased at 2pm today police officers will still be able to apply their ordinary stop and search powers in Slough - stopping anyone they believe may be in possession of a weapon, controlled drugs or a tool that could be used to commit crime.

Police say the situation will be monitored and if the grounds exist a new Section 60 will be instigated.