anti-terror police at it again..

[philw]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246151/ITVs-Toonattik-presenters-Anna-Williamson-Jamie-Rickers-stopped-anti-terror-police-carrying-HAIRDRYERS.html

Running around the streets in combat gear, waving around glittery hairdryers and claiming to be 'dork hunters', they couldn't fail to attract attention.

But children's TV presenters Anna Williamson and Jamie Rickers never dreamt that their outlandish outfits would warrant suspicion by police who stopped them under the Terrorism Act.

In addition, their so-called 'weapons' consisted of hairbrushes and hairdryers.

Yesterday the hosts of the hit ITV show Toonattik told how they were issued with a warning under Section 44 of the act when they were filming a promotional clip for an animated comedy series for young children.

Clad in fatigues, sunglasses and flak jackets, they might have resembled the assassin characters from the hit Hollywood film Mr & Mrs Smith played by  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

But that didn't deter four Metropolitan Police officers on London's South Bank who noted suspicious items including the hairdryers used to advertise GMTV show, 'Dork Hunters from Outer Space', which is popular with four to nine-year-olds.

Miss Williamson, 28, said: 'We were filming a strand called Dork Hunters, which is to do with one of the animations we have on the show.

'We were out and about doing 'dork hunting' ourselves on the streets of London. Jamie and I were kitted out in fake utility belts, we had the whole bulletproof flakjacket thing.

'We've got hairdryers in our belt, a kids' £1.99 walkie-talkie, hairbrushes and all that kind of stuff.

'We were being followed by a camera crew and a boom mike and we get literally pulled over by four policemen and we were issued with a warning "under the act of terrorism".'

His co-presenter Mr Rickers, 32, added: 'We were stopped, not arrested, but they had to say "We are holding you under the Anti-Terrorism Act because you're running around in flak jackets and a utility belt", and I said "and please put spangly blue hairdryer" and he was, like, "all right".'

The presenters spoke of the incident in an interview to mark the fifth anniversary of Toonattik which attracts 616,000 viewers each weekend morning, making it the most popular terrestrial children's programme of its kind.

Details of the incident which took place in 2007 emerged just weeks after the controversial anti-terror laws were ruled illegal by European judges who said the power was a breach of the right to privacy.

The draconian power has been used on anti-war protesters, photographers and even holidaymakers taking pictures of tourist attractions.

Last year it was employed more than 700 times every day without catching a single terrorist.

Police are only supposed to use anti-terrorism legislation where there is a real risk of an attack. But there has been mounting criticism of police abusing the power.

In November a BBC journalist was stopped and searched by two police community support officers as he took photographs of St Paul's Cathedral.

Days earlier a man was stopped and asked to give his name and address after taking photographs of Christmas lights on his way to work in Brighton.

In July 2009, an amateur photographer from Kent was arrested after he took pictures of a fish and chip shop in Chatham and the previous month a trainspotter was ordered to delete images of train carriages taken during a holiday in Wales.

Lord West, the Home Office minister for counter-terrorism, was among those who recently found themselves being searched under the controversial powers.

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 gives police the right to stop and search anyone without having grounds of 'reasonable suspicion' in a defined area considered by the Home Secretary to be a possible terrorism target.

But the public are kept in the dark about where these hotspots are for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to plan attacks.

Some forces have simply designated their entire area as Section 44 zones, giving them limitless powers to search on demand as long as they renew the right to use the powers every 28 days.

Yesterday Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'I’ve heard of anti-terror powers being misused before but never on children’s TV presenters carrying hairdryers.

'This farce shows either an absence of humour amongst our police force or a serious misunderstanding of anti-terror legislation.

'We need to go back to a situation where stop and search is used on the basis of suspicion and intelligence.'

Sabina Frediani, of Liberty, said: 'It’s conceivable that actors in combat gear might raise suspicion but you would have thought that the glittery hairdryers might have helped the penny to drop.

'The power to stop and search under the Terrorism Act is so broad that often common sense goes out of the window. The law needs urgent attention as not all the abuses are quite so funny.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246151/ITVs-Toonattik-presenters-Anna-Williamson-Jamie-Rickers-stopped-anti-terror-police-carrying-HAIRDRYERS.html#ixzz0eHqVLa4p

[garand4life]

To quote the infamous "dork" hit Battlestar Galactica, "Frackin' idiots!".

[crusader rabbit]

Police are only supposed to use anti-terrorism legislation where there is a real risk of an attack. But there has been mounting criticism of police abusing the power.

Lemme see if I can remember the quote...  Sumpin' about Power Corrupts/laced with heavy sarcasm.

But, still and all, I do think we need to be protected from terroristic hairdryer-weilding fatboys.  But blonde chicks with brushes are welcome to wrestle me to the ground and force me to do unspeakable things to them anytime they like. (heh-heh-heh)

Uh-oh...  Mrs. Crusader (Bunny) is right behind me, isn't she???  Gotta go.

[Big Frank]

They don't look like terrorists to me. 

[PegLeg45]

They don't look like terrorists to me. 

They never do....they never do........   

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