Letter from Mark Langabeer, Hastings and Rye Labour member
ITV recently aired a documentary programme, investigating the use of ‘ Stop and Search by the Police, particularly affecting children. The programme began with a report of a fifteen-year old girl, who was subjected to a strip search at her school. It emerged that there wasn’t an appropriate adult present during the search. It led to the Children’s Commissioner, Rachel de Souza, investigating the frequency of strip searches of children.
She discovered that between 2018 and 2020, 650 children between the ages of ten and seventeen had been strip searched. A quarter of the searches had been conducted without an appropriate adult present. Boys made up 95% of them, of whom 50% were black. De Souza pointed out in the programme that black youth are massively disproportionately affected. because they are only 4% of the population.
The programme reported that around 700,000 stops and searches took place in England and Wales in 2020. The Police argue that Stop and Search is vital in the fight against crime and in particular, knife crime. However, it is a policy that disproportionately affects those of colour.
Asians are two and a half times more likely to be stopped and black people are seven times more likely than whites. The programme interviewed a mother of a fourteen year old, who said that her son had been traumatised by Stop and Search and he became fearful of leaving his home.
It was also reported that ninety people died from stab wounds in London in 2021 although the capital is not the only city that suffers from deaths from stabbings. Priti Patel, the Tory Home Secretary, has introduced measures that actually make Stop and Search easier for the police. Previously, police required some intelligence of a likelihood of carrying an offensive weapon, or some other suspicious behaviour. But now, police are allowed Stop and Search without these requirements.
Critics of Stop and Search have argued that there is no evidence that the policy reduces crime and, on the contrary, it causes massive mistrust between Black and Asian communities and the police. In my opinion, the police should be under the control of elected bodies within the local communities they serve. This should include operational matters as well as general policy. This is the only way that trust can be established between the police and people of colour.
ITV Hub has a series of programmes on Stop and Search, and they can be found here. The particular programme referred to in this letter can be found here.
