MAY’S STOP AND SEARCH U-TURN ON GANG WARS

Emergency crackdown on ‘zombie killer’ knives and acid... as wave of teenage murders sweeps London

THERESA MAY has been forced to do a U-turn on police stop and search powers by the epidemic of stabbings and shootings sweeping London.

Emergency plans to extend stop and search are in a tough package of measures unveiled by Home Secretary Amber Rudd amid claims that violent crime is out of control in the capital. New ‘Offensive Weapons’ laws to be introduced within weeks will make it illegal to own so-called ‘zombie killer’ knives and knuckle dusters used by gangs – and allow police to

raid homes to seize them. And t he Government wants to extend stop and search to include people who use acid as a weapon.

It reflects a change of direction for Mrs May, who has introduced a series of curbs on stop and search since 2010, claiming they are unfair to young black men, damaging to community relations and do not cut crime.

Underlining t he Government’s new Serious Violence Strategy, Ms Rudd said last night: ‘It marks a major shift in the Government’s response to knife crime and gun crime and strikes a balance between prevention and robust law enforcement. Stop and search is a vital policing tool and officers will always have the Government’s full support to use these powers properly.’

Other measures in the new strategy will:

Prevent knives t hat are bought online being sent to residential addresses;

Make it easier to prosecute those who use knives and guns to threaten others; Ban knives at colleges; Introduce new measures to stop gangs using social media to goad each other;

Ban more types of flick knives and devices used to make rapid firing rifles.

The initiative came after growing calls for action to combat a rise in violence which has seen London’s murder rate rival New York’s this year.

Ms Rudd’s striking vote of confidence in stop and search being a ‘vital police tool’ with the ‘Government’s full support’ will not be lost on police chiefs and others.

Mrs May’s curbs on the practice since 2010 came in the face of warnings by some politicians, including David Cameron and some police chiefs, that they could hinder the war on crime. Some experts claim the reduction in stop and searches is a factor in the rise in killings.

In recent weeks, senior police in London have pleaded with Ministers to act.

Their sentiments were reflected on Friday by Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who said police must have confidence to use stop and search powers without the ‘chill effect’ of political interference.

Ms Thornton’s comments have been echoed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who, writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, says: ‘Police officers should be confident to use stop and search powers, when it is targeted and intelligence- led. Over the next few weeks in London, targeted intelligenceled stop and search will be used more, based on suspicion of carrying a weapon. This should lead to a safer city.’

And in a controversial intervention, Trevor Phillips, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, today calls for tougher policing methods to be used in black communities hit by knife crime than in less violent white areas.

Mr Phillips, who grew up in Tottenham, scene of several recent killings, criticises politi cal l eaders for failing to acknowledge race as a factor.

In an interview with this newspaper, he says: ‘We have to be honest and say it’s not white boys in Surrey being stabbed or stabbing other people. The victims and perpetrators are mainly from a narrow range of backgrounds, and we should not be afraid to say so. They are usually from black, Afro-Caribbean backgrounds.’

The new measures will be seen by some as putting police ‘back on the front foot’ in the war on crime.

Ms Rudd said the new laws on knives and knuckle dusters mean that police will be able to enter homes to seize them.

She said: ‘We have always stood for law and order and to tackle violent crime effectively, robust legislation and powerful law enforcement must be in place.’

New laws to stop the rise in acid attacks would make it a criminal offence to possess substances such as sulphuric acid in public without good reason and allow the possibility of using stop and search to seize it, said Ms Rudd.