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London: Police chiefs on Monday broke ranks over the proposed 42-day detention of terror suspects - as Gordon Brown met Labour MPs in a desperate bid to shore up his vote.
Clear divisions over the need for longer pre-charge detention became apparent with one day to go before a knife-edge vote. Ministers have repeatedly cited support from Met chief Sir Ian Blair and other senior police officers to justify the new laws in the face of a revolt by up to 30 backbenchers.
But Avon and Somerset's deputy chief constable Rob Beckley said he had "doubts about the investigative need and concerns about the impact on hearts and minds in our work with communities".
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith also admitted that MI5 does not support 42-day detentions. Beckley, who was the Association of Chief Police Officers' leader on communities and counter-terrorism from 2002 to last year, went public with his concerns to a Muslim Safety Forum conference last month.
"I, and I know other chief officers, do not see the necessity of 42 days; we can see the desirability, but at this stage I do not see the necessity," he said.
The Guardian said it had spoken to three other police officers of similar rank who were unhappy about 42-day detentions.
But writing in The Sun on Monday, Northern Ireland chief constable Sir Hugh Orde insisted the 28-day limit was not enough. He said police needed "effective" legislation to take on "increasing" terrorist threats.
Rules on terror detention
United States: The maximum pre-charge detention period for criminal, including terrorist, suspects is 48 hours. The head of the FBI points to two key differences with the British legal system. He cited the use of plea bargaining in the US and the fact that prosecutors can make use in court of intelligence material obtained from tapping suspects' phones.
Britain: Police need a warrant from a judge to keep a suspect in custody after the first 48 hours, and these warrants are usually updated weekly up to a current maximum of 28 days. At that point police must charge or release the suspect.
Germany: A person can be held in provisional police detention for up to 48 hours, after which a warrant from a judge is required to keep the suspect in investigative custody. At this point prosecutors publicly state the grounds for suspicion. It may, however, take many months for them to bring charges.
France: A terrorism suspect can normally be held for up to four days for police questioning, increasing to six if there is proof an attack was being prepared. If suspicion is confirmed, the case is then transferred to an investigating judge. While the judge's investigation proceeds, a suspect may remain in detention for years, but has the right to appeal against it.
Spain: Spain, which suffered Europe's deadliest militant attack when train bombers killed 191 people in 2004, allows police to hold terrorism suspects for up to five days of "preventative arrest" before releasing them or handing them over to judicial authorities. However, they can then be held in custody possibly for years.
Australia: Anti-terrorism laws allow police a total of 24 hours to question suspects, but the actual detention period can be longer because "dead time" in which no questioning takes place does not count towards the limit. Under these rules, an Indian doctor last year was held for 12 days.
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