The power to act on suspicion was found in part of section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824, which provided that: "hall be deemed a rogue and vagabond" and would be guilty of an offence, and be liable to be imprisoned for up to three months. This effectively permitted the police to stop and search, and even arrest, anyone found in a public place if they suspected that they intended to commit an offence. In order to bring a prosecution under the act, the police had to prove that the defendant had committed two acts:
the first, that established them as a "suspected person", and
Two witnesses were required to substantiate the charge, which were usually two police officers patrolling together.
1970s and 1980s
The law caused much discontent among certain sections of the population, particularly black and ethnic minorities, against whom the law was particularly targeted by the police—see racial profiling. The sus law had attracted considerable controversy prior to the early 1980s race riots. This led to campaigns against the law including the "Scrap Sus" campaign led by Mavis Best and Paul Boateng. When questioned on the topic in 1980, Metropolitan Police CommissionerSir David McNee stated that the reason for its disproportionate use on black people was because they were "over-represented in offences of robbery and other violent theft". In 1980, the House of Commons' Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration began hearings into the law. In the case of the race riots, the alleged abusive use of the sus law was believed to be a contributory factor to those events. The sus law was repealed on 27 August 1981, on the advice of the 1979 Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, when the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 received Royal Assent.
2007 legislation
Subsequent British legislation that makes provision for the police to act on the basis of suspicion alone has been denounced as "another sus law" by opponents of proposals to grant increased "stop and question" powers to police officers in England and Wales. Scottish law permits detention without arrest for up to six hours, using powers under the Criminal Justice Act 1980.
Mr Hain said he wanted to see the details of the policy before making any judgement. But he told BBC1’s Sunday AM: “We cannot have a reincarnation of the old ‘sus’ laws under which mostly black people, ethnic minorities, were literally stopped on sight and that created a really bad atmosphere and an erosion of civil liberties.”
In January 2008 David Cameron, at the time Conservativeleader of the opposition, announced that he would, if elected, seek to return similar powers to the police. Under Conservative proposals, police sergeants would be able to authorise the use of stop and search of pedestrians and vehicles in a specific area for up to six hours—or 48 hours if permission is granted by a senior officer. Gordon Brown, then Labour prime minister, announced in response that he would seek to remove the lengthy forms that are currently required for 'stop and searches'.
In language
The abbreviation "sus" or "suss" either as a noun or verb became common in parts of the country. The terms moved from meanings based on the original "suspicion", as in "that's rather suss" to meaning "to find out" as in "you have been sussed!"
