Section 44 Stop and Search wrongly used

So I dealt briefly with the infamous Section 44 of the Terrorism act back in September 2008 then as it seemed more detail was required again in October 2008. Since then I've popped up in other blogs pointing out the actual rules of Section 44 rather than how some police forces seems to be using them.

So why am I rehashing this? Because "Thousands wrongly detained in police terror law blunder" popped up in my news reader. Gosh it turns out sometimes police forces have been wrongly using the Section 44 order, colour me stunned.

Turns out some people were being stopped without permission from a Home Office Minster (which may be perfectly correct under the law) and in other times stopped after the permission had run out (which isn't).

Confused? See the order itself needs to be approved within 48 hours otherwise it's voided automatically, however the order itself doesn't start at the point of approval it starts as the point of submission. So for 48 hours you can use Section 44 without Home Office approval. Of course after 48 hours it becomes illegal, which may be what the Times meant by 'without HO approval'.