Theresa May to tell police: Stop racial profiling

The Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to the tell the police in England and Wales to scale back their prolific use of Stop and Search. May who has looked long and hard at the work done by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in this area has concluded that, ‘intelligence–led’ approach to policing is far more affective and is much less divisive than the ‘dragnet’ approach, which randomly and disproportionately Stops and Searches young Black men in many urban areas.

Last month the ECHR launched its findings after working with a number of police authorities which had high Stop and Search rates amongst Black communities. With the threat of legal action, the police authorities willingly adopted new ways of policing which resulted in some cases a 50% reduction in Stop and Search. Interestingly, by better using police time to target criminals, their hit rate has risen too.

Although not the only factor, the shockingly high ratio of Black Stop and Search - Black men are 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched that white men- it was widely seen as a contributory factor to the 2011 August riots. Now the Home Secretary has indicated that she wants all 43 forces in England and Wales to use a far more selective intelligence-led approach.

There is still a long way to go before trust between Black communities and police authorities grows. We are still yet to see the full scale of policing which sought to smear the Lawrence family and others. How many police were involved, who gave authorization, who else was targeted?

All these and many more questions will need to be answered to help bridge greater trust. But today is a good day. The Home Secretary Theresa May has listened and will act decisively. As a result we should see, what can often be described as police harassment being significantly scaled down. Over twenty years or more all we have asked for is a police force that works for us, not against us.

Simon Woolley