Police must use stop and search despite the tactic overly affecting ethnic minorities, says equalities minister Kemi Badenoch
- Children’s Commissioner found people as young as 8 strip-searched with tactic
- Equalities minister says stop and search racial disparity has fallen in recent years
The police’s use of stop-and-search measures is essential despite them overly affecting ethnic minorities, the equalities minister has insisted.
Kemi Badenoch said the tactic was a ‘vital tool’ in tackling violence and said progress has been made on reducing the race disparity.
However, policing bodies are also implementing new safety training for officers so they can use ‘de-escalation and communication skills’ when searching suspects.
Now-Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch speaking on stage during the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham in October 2022
Kemi Badenoch leaving 10 Downing Street, London, after a Cabinet meeting on 28 March 2023
Last month’s scathing Baroness Casey report into Scotland Yard called for a ‘fundamental reset’ of the use of stop-and-search while the Children’s Commissioner found that those as young as eight are being strip-searched.
In her foreword to an update on the Government’s Inclusive Britain strategy, which includes 74 actions aimed at ending ethnic disparities, Mrs Badenoch wrote: ‘There is more work to be done to tackle disparities and build trust in our police forces.
‘The progress we have made in criminal justice is strong.
‘The stop-and-search disparity between the black and white ethnic groups has decreased substantially from 8.8 times higher in the year ending March 2020 to 4.9 times higher in the year to March 2022.
‘But stop-and-search remains a vital tool to tackle the most serious crimes, which can disproportionately impact ethnic minorities.’
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