Commentary on Sections Part 2: Weapons etc. Section 48: Amendment of police power to search schools etc for weapons
269.Section 48 amends section 139B of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 to reduce the threshold for a constable to exercise his or her powers of entry and search of a school and persons on school premises for weapons under that section from 'reasonable grounds for believing' to ‘reasonable grounds for suspecting’ to ensure both consistency with the powers in sections 45 to 47 and that the police have the necessary powers to tackle weapons in schools.