An official warning that black and other ethnic minority people need ‘safeguarding’ from biased police shows how urgently change is needed
Barely a month after two separate reviews of policing made the case for radical reform in light of growing risks, the Independent Office for Police Conduct has issued a fresh blast of criticism. The latest findings relate to the police’s approach to stop and search. The number of these searches carried out rose 24% to 695,009 in the year to March 2021. Almost 70% of stops – 478,576 – were drugs searches.
While the Met points to the seizure of 4,800 weapons as proof that stop and search is a valid tool, the IOPC rightly asserts that the service – which uses stop and search more than any other – must, along with the UK’s other 42 forces, “balance tackling crime with building trust”. This has fallen to alarmingly low levels after a series of incidents that have horrified even many of those who are usually pro-police.
