Letter: Identity cards will lead to widespread police harassment

I READ with interest Nick Cohen's article on the old identity card and the experience of Clarence Willcock in the 1950s at the hands of the police ('The man who said mind your own business', 28 August). Anyone familiar with the experience of young male drivers, at least in the regions covered by Durham Constabulary and Northumbria Police, can have little doubt that the introduction of a new identity document will lead to unreasonable harassment by police empowered to demand the production of such a document.

The HORT-1, or demand document, is issued by police to require drivers stopped in 'routine checks' to take their driving and vehicle documents for recording to a police station within seven days. Many young male drivers in the North-east region, where there is an admittedly high rate of car crime, receive enough of these documents in a single year to wallpaper a small bedroom.

My son, since moving to this region, has received more than 20. In one weekend he received three, one on the way out for the evening, one on the way home, and another two days later. On three occasions he was parked at the time he was approached so there could be no question of his driving drawing attention.

Often these 'routine stops' are accompanied by an abrasive attitude on the part of the police officer. On one occasion within a mile or so of his home my son was stopped and issued with an HORT-1 and told that his car 'could be taken into the police garage and torn apart' to check whether it was stolen.

The police have the right to stop any car without cause. They also have the right to demand documents not required to be carried by law, eg, driving licence, MOT, insurance certificate, etc. These routine checks are by no means 'routine' to the recipient, who has to spend at least 15 minutes by the roadside with the officer and then within seven days go to a police station and spend another 30 to 45 minutes waiting or having details recorded.

It is barely credible that resource-strapped police forces, who by definition spend at least as much time on each issue as the recipient, have the time to spend on these mindless paper chases. It is also unbelievable that there is no data system to avoid the regular issuing of these documents to the same person almost weekly.

What is credible is that the police will abuse rights to demand the production of any new identity document which may be introduced by Parliament. We need not look back to the 1940s and early 1950s to see this. We need only look to the current daily experiences of young and politically weak male drivers in the North-east to see that this will be the case.

Michael Cassidy

Newcastle upon Tyne