'Dynamic' plea on terror profiling

Police need to take a "flexible and dynamic" approach to profiling to stop suspected terrorists, a senior counter terrorism officer said.

John Yates, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations, warned that al Qaida regularly changed tactics to keep a step ahead and called for security staff to use their experience to apply stop-and-search powers "sensitively".

He said the failed Detroit plane plot at Christmas had reopened the debate on "profiling", which he labelled an "ugly" word.

The measure involves picking out suspected terrorists at places such as airports based on their appearance and behaviour.

It was introduced under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows officers to stop and search anyone within a specific area without any suspicion an offence has been committed.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Yates said: "It is an uncomfortable fact that terrorism over the past 10 years has predominantly featured similar young men, in a tiny fringe group who were influenced to believe their religion required them to carry out acts of violence."

He said in reality there was "no single terrorist profile", adding: "Our approach must be flexible and dynamic.

"It cannot focus on skin colour or religion."

But "finite resources" had to be focused and treating every passenger as a potential suspect would not "effectively protect the public", he argued.