Council staff, charity workers and doctors will have to tip off police about anyone they believe could commit a violent crime, under leaked government plans.
Home Office proposals, leaked to the Times newspaper, said public bodies have access to “valuable information about people at risk of becoming either perpetrators or victims of serious violence”.
The proposals for “multi-agency information sharing” were circulated in Whitehall by Simon King, head of the Home Office violent crime unit.
When staff become “sufficiently concerned” about an individual, they would have to consider a risk assessment and refer the case to a multi-agency body.
New laws would be needed to place front-line staff under a statutory obligation to alert police to potentially violent individuals, King added.
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The proposals have been attacked by human rights groups and the Conservative party, saying it meant staff would have to “snoop on their customers”.
A Home Office spokesman said the proposals were at an early stage.
