Independent Member for Alfred Cove Dr Janet Woollard has welcomed the decision for a Legislative Council Committee to review the stop and search laws, or the Criminal Investigation Amendment Bill 2009 (Bill).

"If this legislation is passed the way it is currently written WA will be the only state in Australia where the police can stop and search someone without reasonable suspicion that they are carrying weapons or drugs," said Dr Woollard.

"Similar legislation in the United Kingdom led to complaints of police targeting certain ethnic groups and because of this the UK government introduced safeguards to protect the police and the public, and to ensure the new laws were effective in assisting police to take drugs and weapons of the streets.

"While the Bill was debated in the Legislative Assembly, I asked the Minister for Police to include in the Bill provisions so that police could:

1. Make a record of stops, including the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched and whether anything was seized as a result of the search.

2. Provide the person searched with a written record of the search.

"In addition, I asked that the legislation be reviewed after 12 months as opposed to 5 years as it stands now," said Dr Woollard.

Dr Woollard said records of searches and an earlier review will provide a better understanding of the effectiveness of the legislation, and allow for timely amendments that would only help to make the laws more effective.

"Apart from transparency and accountability to the community, the amendments would offer protection for the police against accusations of abuse of their stop-and-search powers," said Dr Woollard.

While the Minister for Police the Hon Rob Johnson gave Dr Woollard an assurance that the annual police report would contain some information in relation to the new stop and search powers Dr Woollard said she is hopeful the Committee will ensure more information is collected and a 12 month review of this legislation is conducted.

"I am hopeful that members of the Committee reviewing the Bill will see the need for safeguards similar to those introduced in the UK Terrorism Legislation and make the appropriate recommendations to the Legislative Council," said Dr Woollard.