Javid: Stop and search must not be a race issue
POLICE should feel empowered to stop and search suspects, irrespective of whether they are black, brown or white, to combat the “disease” of knife crime, Sajid Javid said yesterday.
The Home Secretary is expected to announce enhanced stop and search powers for police within the next few weeks, following a surge in violence that has seen 199 deaths in London alone this year.
Backing increased use of the powers, he said: “If you’re a police officer, you should feel absolutely confident to use your powers of stop and search.”
Despite claims by critics that ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped, he said: “If we want to stop offending in the first place, we should put ethnicity aside. It doesn’t matter if someone is black, or brown, or white or whatever they are.
“If the police think that there’s good reason that they may be carrying an offensive weapon, the police should be empowered to stop them.
“I want the governments at all public agencies to look at it as a disease and say, ‘How do we eradicate this?’.”
Mr Javid told The Daily Telegraph last week that he wants to stimulate greater use of stop and search. He said: “I want to make sure it is easier for police to be able to use it, and reduce the bureaucracy around it. My aim is to make police officers much more confident in using stop and search.”
Police minister Nick Hurd said the Government had no plans to change the requirement that reasonable grounds for suspicion are needed before a routine stop and search is carried out. “We are working with the police to see how we can increase efficiency in the use of stop and search,” he said.
It is thought ministers will encourage police to extend the use of “Section 60 powers”, where a senior officer can suspend the usual requirement in targeted areas or circumstances. Police want the process speeded up, without having to spend time logging stop and search forms.
Mr Javid also admitted that extra police are needed, adding: “Police numbers have to be an important part of the solution. There has been a big increase in police funding in the past three years. That said, we need to take a fresh look at that and make sure police have the resources that they need.”