BRITAIN’S top police chief wants “superconstables” armed with Judge Dredd-type powers to fight yobs on the streets. He also wants ex-soldiers to bolster firearms teams in the battle against terrorism, he said yesterday.

Announcing a controversial package of police reforms, Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has proposed that experienced senior constables would be able to suspend or seize driving licences, take cars and issue antisocial behaviour orders.

But the plans have been condemned by lawyers and civil liberties groups, who said that people’s liberty should not be removed without their appearing before an independent judicial authority.

John Cooper, a criminal barrister and spokesman for the Bar Council’s public affairs committee, said that the proposals reminded him of Robocop. “In this film, when the Robocop confronts the hapless driver, he says, ‘You have the right to remain silent — for ever’, and then shoots him dead.

“I trust this is a little over the top and I sincerely hope that Commissioner Blair is not an aficionado of this film.”

Under Sir Ian’s plans, officers would, for example, patrol an estate plagued by antisocial behaviour such as teenagers gathering in groups. The officer could take action on the spot rather than issue a warning that an offender could be reported and might face prosecution. Sir Ian, who has the backing of other chief constables, said that the police action would be temporary until the offender appeared in court and denied that it was a step towards a police state.

He said: “Antisocial behaviour is very difficult because the criminal justice system takes so long. We need to make justice more immediately apparent to the offender and the community.”

Bob Quick, Chief Constable of Surrey, said that the power would be the “21st-century version of a clip around the ear”. He said that officers, instead of “muttering quasi-legal phrases to yobs on the streets who then drive off into the sunset” could make them step out of their cars and seize them. The use of ex-soldiers and the creation of the superconstables are part of a package of reform that chief constables have been working on for 18 months.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, was given an advance text of Sir Ian’s speech, made at the annual conference of the Police Superintendents’ Association, meeting in Warwickshire, but officials said that no final proposals had been put to ministers. The idea that ex-soldiers would have slimmed-down police powers and could be used to patrol key government buildings or embassies was first raised in a Home Office report last year.

Yesterday Sir Ian said that the Germans already had a group of armed officers with reduced police powers who were guarding buildings in Berlin. He said that his recruits could also be deployed on operational duties. Sir Ian said that it was time the effectiveness of the police was judged on outcomes rather than numbers.

His ideas include ending national pay scales, giving officers merit money for good work and changing the rules on sick pay. He said that at present there were 2,000 officers doing recuperative work because of illness and receiving the same pay as fit officers.

He said that the superconstables would receive extra pay. Their actions could be challenged in the courts, either by an appeal or when they went to court, and that the powers could be limited to 14 days.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the civil rights group Liberty, described the powers as unacceptable summary justice and said that Sir Ian should remember that he was “Met Commissioner and not Judge Dredd”. It was time that senior officers “enforced the laws rather than seeking to make them”.

The Law Society promised to fight the proposals, as it said that such powers would turn “a policeman into a magistrate or a judge”. Kevin Martin, the president, said that taking away a driving licence or imposing an Asbo should be done only by a magistrate or judge.

• Sir Ian Blair has said that he will resign if he is roundly condemned by the inquiry investigating the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. He said that he had already considered quitting in the aftermath of the shooting in London the day after the July 21 bombings.

THE PROPOSALS

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