The Sunday Telegraph

Police ‘too scared’ to stop and search

Former London deputy mayor asks politician­s to give police the confidence to use the powers they have

- By

Kate McCann, Ashley Kirk and Martin Evans

GIVE police the confidence to use stop and search to cut knife crime, a close ally of Boris Johnson and former deputy mayor for policing has said.

Stephen Greenhalgh said senior politician­s must give police “political cover” to use intelligen­ce-led stop and search to curb the number of knives on Britain’s streets, amid claims officers are too scared to use the powers.

A former senior officer told The Sunday Telegraph that young officers “are afraid of using their stop and search powers for fear of getting it wrong”, as data shows a dramatic drop in stops.

It follows a political row over stop and search which blew up in a recent Cabinet meeting between the Prime Minister and Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, who reportedly wants to see more searches to cut violent crime in the capital.

Mrs May issued new guidance to officers when she was Home Secretary after she voiced concerns that in many cases stop and search was used illegally and had alienated the black and minority ethnic community. Allies of Mr Johnson are furious at Sadiq Khan, the new Labour Mayor, who won office after vowing to cut stop and search on London’s streets, which they claim has contribute­d to the rise in stabbings.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Greenhalgh said: “The key to cutting crime is getting as many police officers as possible into the places where crime is likely to occur, it is not retreating and responding, it is getting into those neighbourh­oods and stopping it before it starts.”

He said stop and search plays a “vital role” in the battle against gang violence as long as it is backed by intelligen­ce and doesn’t turn communitie­s away from the police. But he warned politician­s must provide the “political cover” to give police confidence to use the powers they have.

“It is an essential part of the toolkit

Back on the streets

and police have to have the confidence to use it intelligen­tly and in the right way”, he said. “If young people think they’re able to walk around carrying knives without police officers stopping them that is what causes the violence in the first place.”

The use of stop and search has fallen dramatical­ly in recent years from a high of 1.5million uses in 2009 to around 300,000 last year.

But the picture is complex. While crime has increased at the same time, the percentage of arrests as a result of stops has actually increased, despite the overall fall from eight to 17 per cent. This figure is often used to explain away concerns about the falling number of actual police stops.

But there have been a smaller number of actual arrests – a drop from 118,769 to 51,813 – prompting questions about what happens to the tens of thousands who are missed.

A former neighbourh­ood police officer in south London told this newspaper that young officers, who are most likely to be out on the street and in a position to stop suspects, “are afraid of using their stop and search powers for fear of getting it wrong”.

They added: “They have had the fear of god put into them that if they make a mistake they won’t get any support. So as a result, they don’t always use the powers they have when necessary.

“We hear the statistics that suggest intelligen­ce led stop and search gets positive results in a third of all cases, but what we don’t know is what happens when an officer decides not to stop and search someone they are suspicious of. Does that person then go on to do something terrible?

“Stop and search is not the answer but it is a tool that can help tackle the problem.”

David Lammy, the Labour MP, said while stop and search plays a role in policing gangs, there is a fine line between working in the community and against it.

He said: “The police are struggling with solutions to overcome this problem, if they start using the old tropes like stop and search or even the new ones about clamping down on social media and YouTube – they are issues within this problem but I am not convinced that they are the answer.”

 ??  ?? An extra 300 officers were on duty in London this weekend as the murder rate in the capital year rose to at least 35. Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Police Commission­er Cressida Dick will hold crisis talks.
An extra 300 officers were on duty in London this weekend as the murder rate in the capital year rose to at least 35. Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met Police Commission­er Cressida Dick will hold crisis talks.

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