Don’t let stats and politics impact stop and search

ALLOWING stop and search tactics to get bogged down in statistics and politics is hampering officers’ abilities to tackle knife crime, according to the PFEW’s Operational Policing Lead.

Simon Kempton was addressing delegates at this year’s Police Federation Annual Conference and said that campaigns against the tactic were partly responsible for a rise in knife crime.

“When searches go down, knife crime goes up,” he said.

“When stop and search gets political and wrapped up in statistics then it normally gets carried out far less often.

“For instance, if one in six searches results in a knife being found, then statistically that’s a success rate of 17%

“That doesn’t look good but that’s another knife off the street and potentially another life saved.

“There will always be those people who carry knives and that’s why stop and search is so important – at the end of the day a criminal with a knife should expect and worry about stop and search but they aren’t.

“There needs to enough resources and officers in order for us to be proactive and for it to be used as a political football only benefits knife carriers.”

All panellists on the Protecting Our Streets session agreed that stop and search had an important role to play in tackling violent crime and that it was a tactic that should be deployed wherever relevant.

Roger Pegram, Vice Chair of the Society for Evidence Based Policing said that police cuts had had a direct correlation on knife crime.

He believes that tougher sentences, having figures within communities acting as role models and deploying ‘hot spotting’ visible patrols could all work to tackle the problem.

Reformed gang member Sheldon Thomas, now CEO of charity Gangsline, which works to divert youngsters away from violent crime, said ensuring police were properly resourced to address the issue was ‘common sense.’

He also called on police forces to work together with communities to help resolve some of the wider societal issues.

“The police have to have BME people on the inside of their organisation to get change moving and to truly understand communities and even the language people use these days.

“Neighbourhood policing is key to this, getting officers on the streets, saying hello to people and being visible in communities.

“Of course, to do this, police need more resources – that’s just common sense,” he added.