Don’t expand stop and search

Why is this important?

The government wants to increase police stop and search powers which, if passed, will disproportionately impact Black people. The plans trample all over our most basic civil liberties and, with Black people almost ten times more likely to be targeted than White people, are also fundamentally racist.

The plans would let police stop people because they were previously convicted of carrying a knife. They are an attack on our rights - and discriminate against people previously coerced into knife crime.

A police officer having reasonable grounds to search someone is a well-established principle of policing that cannot be eroded. Many people convicted of knife crime are also children who have been coerced and threatened into action. These children are victims of exploitation - not criminals.

The government has admitted that these powers will have a negative impact on Black ethnic communities - particularly young Black men - but they’re willing to do it anyway. With the rest of the world asking important questions about police racism, it is unacceptable for the UK to move backwards on this issue. .