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Stop and Search powers might change but for now, If you are a criminal stay white and if you are black stay legal
Wednesday 24th September 2014 | Osh
Police forces in England are adopting new government codes of conduct concerning the use of Stop and Search powers.
The new code represents an acknowledgement by the Home Secretary of the already widely-held view that misuse of Stop and Search powers has seriously damaged the relationship between the police and the public.
This new guidance is especially intended to limit the police using the controversial 'Section 60' stops unlawfully. The Section 60 power allows police to search someone even when there isn't proper grounds for suspicion. Officers will now also be obliged to record every outcome of every Stop and Search incident.
Recent investigation conducted by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary found that 27% of stop and search incidents did not have reasonable grounds for suspicion, suggesting that more than a quarter of the one million searches carried out last year could be considered unlawful. In 2013 a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission revealed that black and Asian people are still much likelier than white people to be stopped by police officers.
Stop and Search is still a toxic issue that many feel uncomfortable talking about exactly for that reason: because it's so tied up in perceptions about police prejudices as well as the problems in trying to police high crime-rates in troubled (and usually poorer) areas.
Without question the misuse of Stop and Search has had a deeply negative effect on police and community relations. Most people still blame the disproportionate use of Stop and Search for the Brixton riots in 1981, while the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985 were heavily blamed on racist policing.
The police face a difficult situation when trying to fight crime, on one level it's their responsibility to neutralise crime and safeguard the community, yet on another level the argument is often made that their ability to do that job is disrupted if they're reluctant to take certain actions for fear of being seen as racist.
It may be that the thing causing the most tension isn't even Stop and Search itself, but the lack of understanding and communication between the police and the wider communities. There is undoubtedly a high degree of mistrust felt towards the police, especially in certain areas like Tottenham. The 2011 riots that swept across British cities might've happened for various reasons, but in Tottenham, the place where the trouble started, bad relations between the police and the black community was the issue.
To talk about "racist police" is just cliche, making it easier to dismiss the matter with a roll of the eyes and "here we go again". But people feeling unfairly targeted and hassled by the law is not going to inspire trust or cooperation. All it does is provoke resistance and cause the stereotypes to be reinforced on both sides.
That's how it becomes a vicious cycle: someone who feels persecuted is naturally going to be antagonistic when they feel like they're being hassled by police, while at the same time an antagonistic attitude is only going to further convince the police that this is trouble.
One fix for this problem is attitude, tone and behaviour to be measured more carefully on both sides. In situations police officers need to find a way to come across not as persecutors but as fair people trying to do their jobs. Think about people who've rubbed you up the wrong way over the years: half the time isn't something they did, it's something they said. And more often than that it's the way they said it or it was in their body language or the way they looked at you.
As for the ract that Stop and Search is inherintly racist and always unfairly afflicts ethnic minorities, for now, if you are a crminal stay white and pump NWA Fuck The Police while driving and if you are black stay legal.
