Spathers ..

Have you re-read and reflected on what you have written ?

I hope your university essays are better thought out .. I would be underwhelmed if I received this from one of my A level students ..

Mike

Mike, Bedford, England

While I don't like the idea of police getting in my way (which they do anyway), metal detectors don't bother me too much - I was at the passport office the other week, and for all the security and metal detectors and whatnot, I was still able to breeze straight through without emptying my pockets.

It's big, it's visible, it makes us feel like something is being done for our safety and security, but in practical terms it's about as much use as a chocolate kettle. Go figure.

Mike, Glasgow,

Ian, this is about preventing crime, not handing out "stirner sentances" when it's too late for the victims.
Prison just gives criminals a degree in the science of crime.
Maybe we should not be so paranoid about giving power to the people we pay to protect us. Big brother as a whole... maybe. n this case... no.

Thanassi, Preston, Lancashire

Metal Detectors are only effective against "Metal" - in other words yet another waste of tax payers (my and your) money.

Yes - I do pay my taxes in the UK despite currently being abroad.

P Barrett, Valletta, Malta

Well, we'll see. I regularly carry a leatherman knife tool set which In use for everything from opening bottles to cutting baling twine, removing staples and changing a plug. I am white, mid 50s and about the last person the police in the UK are going to want to stop. Much more disturbing though is the frequency with which I forget I am carrying it and pass through Heathrow and Stansted with it in my pocket or briefcase. I travel through UK airports (outwards) at least twice each month, sometimes much more. And guess what....it has NEVER been picked up by the scanners. If I had an AK47, I am sure I would remember to pack it in my luggage, but I am also sure I need not worry about that being found either.

benjamyn999, Lincolnshire and Juba, UK and Sudan

Many shops have bar code scanners at the exit of their shops as well as security staff.
They could be retuned to detect metal objects as well as goods and people searched. Surely stop and seartch is only to be used if somebody is suspected of being involed or trying to carry out a crime.
I'm all for stoping gun, knife and all crime but sometimes peoples rights if violated unneccessary are going to cary claims for compensation.

Peter, Hastings, UK

Big Brother is getting more like HIUGE BROTHER everyday of the week.

It is so the authorities can have more power over the small citizen. Nothing to do with preventing knife crime in reality.

What about stirner sentences for the criminals ? Simple equation really !!!

Funny how the politicians all go silent at times like this and when we all miss MP's like Tony Benn in the Houses of Parliament !!!

Ian Payne, Walsall,

I think B.Redfern is getting the UK mixed up with his own country when it was rules by the KGB. To stop a vehicle the police use powers under the Road traffic act, to check you are allowed to drive that vehicle. To seach they use other power from the Misuse of drugs Act etc. "Liberty" are in the easy position of saying " I don't like that it's against people's human rights" when ever anyone comes up with an idea to prevent murders, stabbings, shottings and rapes but its not in their remit to hand ideas out. Nice place to be in

B.Kennell, London,

If you don't carry a weapon you have nothing to worry about. If you do you'll think twice and probably get rid before you're arrested.
This is a brilliant idea and I'd much rather be searched every so often and be a lot more reassured that my family and friends are a lot safer walking home than now.
Surely this will target areas where there is a lot of knife crime and where most gangs on the streets carry knifes or even guns...
If you're against it. why not go for a walk in a dangerous area of your city at night, you should have the freedom and human right to do so, no? If you're in another country (or a wealthy suburb) you probably have no idea what the UK streets are like...

Thanassi, Preston, Lancs

In principle it is a good idea but what will actually happen is it will also be used for holding people up at random and searching them. As for searching a vehicle, the police have never needed a law. They have just gone ahead and done it without any predetermined time or location, as thousands of motorists already know.

B Redfern, Krksko, Slovenia

it is a goog step to prevent crimes

yahya, jordan,

John Ercep, the entire idea of making every innocent person a 'potential criminal' would seem to contradict the entire supposed purpose of a democratic society. The idea that each and every citizen of a nation may be a danger to that country is one which seems a natural precursor to the development of a police state and the inevitable suppression of human rights which come with this action. It's innocent until proven guilty for a reason. Furthermore, it's always easy to sit in the majority and scathingly observe the defence of those you view as a threat, but what if, in a different set of circumstances, you were that supposedly seditious minority? Would you not seek a defence of your own human rights in the face of overwhelming animosity? Your ideas seem ill-informed and demonstrative of a frighteningly under-developed sense of empathy. Cheeeeeeeeeeeers

Spathers, Warwick Uni, Mercia

The march towards Britain becoming a complete police state continues. There will be people arrested because they carry a Swiss Army knife to peel fruit, meanwhile the violent criminals will simply run off while the police are busy scanning the innocent.

Tony Yates, Brisbane,

I am so bored by "Liberty", whose main purpose in life seems to be to defend the rights of a violent minority to inflict damage and violence on a peaceful majority.

Don't carry a knife, and you won't get into to trouble with the police. I cannot for the life of me see where that simple message might infringe someone's civil liberties, unless the rights that Liberty seek to defend are those of one person to stab another.

John Ercep, Calgary, Canada