Home Secretary Theresa May has said that she will change the law if police officers do not stop using “stop and search” powers excessively.
Mrs May is blaming overuse of stop and search for causing discord between the police and the black community.
Figures show that only one in ten stop and searches results in an arrest. The police have faced allegations of being institutionally racist, as stop and search data shows that people from ethnic minority groups are primarily targeted under stop and search.
Police watchdog Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary has found that 27% of police stop and searches are “unlawful” – and risk “major disorder” among certain sections of the community.
The Daily Mail reports that Mrs May will announce a possible change in the law regarding stop and search at this year’s Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust Criminal Justice Lecture, held in memory of the murdered teenager.
It is estimated that people from the black community are subject to more stop and searches than others.
In 2013, an officer from Scotland Yard was disciplined after Stephen Lawrence’s brother, Stuart, was subjected to stop and search while driving his car.
Stuart Lawrence revealed that since the age of 17, he had been subjected to stop and search on more than 25 occasions – and claimed he was unfairly targeted for stop and search because he is from the black community.
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