Police should stop and search suspects irrespective of race, says Sajid Javid

Police should feel empowered to stop and search suspects irrespective of whether they are black, brown or white in efforts 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 stop and search, he said: “I’m saying, if you’re a police officer, you should feel absolutely confident to use your powers of stop and search.”

Despite complaints from 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 absolutely empowered to stop them. That’s what I want to see, that’s what the public wants to see.

“I want the governments at all public agencies to look at it as a disease and say, ‘How do we eradicate this disease?’”

Mr Javid told The Daily Telegraph last week that he was looking to strengthen police powers to stop and search suspects. He said: “With stop and search 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.”

Some senior officers from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) want a lowering of the level of suspicion an officer needs against a suspect to use the power. They want to scrap the requirement that “reasonable grounds” are needed before a person can be subjected to a search.

But Home Office and Downing Street officials made clear yesterday there will be no blanket lifting of the requirement that police should have “reasonable grounds” for a stop and search of a suspect, a qualification introduced by Mr Javid’s predecessor Theresa May.

However, it is thought ministers will encourage police to extend use of section 60 powers where a senior officer can suspend the requirement in targeted areas or circumstances. Police also want the process to be speeded up without having to spend time logging stop and search forms.

The powers could also be extended to searching for acid, drones and laser pointers which are currently excluded and which senior officers want included.

Police minister Nick Hurd  told MPs yesterday 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, however, working with the police to see how we can reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiency in the use of stop and search. The Home Secretary has been clear that that is something we are looking at, and that he will say more on this in due course,” he said.

Mr Javid also admitted extra police were needed on the streets: “I think actually police numbers have to be an important part of the solution. Let’s not pretend that it’s not.

“There has been a big increase in police funding in the last three years. There was a big increase last year. That said, I’m the first to admit, we need to take a fresh look at that and make sure that police - not just in London, but across the country - have the resources that they need.”

Asked if that includes telling police officers to increase stop and search, he said: “I’m saying, if you’re a police officer, you should feel absolutely confident to use your powers of stop and search.”

Responding to London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s suggestion it will take 10 years to tackle knife crime, he said: “Yes it is [too long], course, we don’t have 10 years. We don’t have 10 months. There needs to be immediate action. But where the Mayor is right is… some of the longer-term interventions; by definition, if you’re trying to take children away from a life of crime, trying to deal with the challenges they have in their lives, that will take time. That early intervention is also something that should happen.”

He added: “I was brought up on a street in Bristol that one newspaper later described as the most dangerous street in Britain. I know what it’s like to live in an area that has lots of crime. Even when I was a youngster I helped get a friend out of a gang. I know what crime is like if you live in a community. I’ve come from there, I understand it. That’s my mission. My message, as a parent first of all, and I know from speaking to other parents just how important this issue is, I’m absolutely committed to this and I will do everything in my power to make a difference.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick denied police have not lost control of knife crime in London.

She said: “No we haven’t. It’s really challenging. We are doing everything we can to protect the young people, to divert them away from crime, of course to investigate the crimes when they’ve happened. To try and get everybody involved in the fight against knife crime.”

Speaking of police cuts and its impact she said: “I think there must be some sort of link – online crime, child sexual exploitation, rape, various offences have either been going up, or the expectations on us have been going up. At the same time as officers going down, demand going up, emergency calls from the public going up – that is a very strained system.”

Of the fact that more than £400m has been assigned by the government to fix potholes, she said: “They have to make hard decisions. I think there is a good case for the police to have more resources. I know exactly how I would use extra resources to target violent criminals, to bring drug dealers to justice, to be more present on the street at the time when the schools andcolleges are coming out.”