Stop and search 'will cause gangs to grow' - News - Evening Standard
       

Stop and search 'will cause gangs to grow'

The stop and search tactics being used to tackle knife crime will only make London's gangs stronger, the former head of the Met's homicide prevention unit has warned.

Use of the controversial policing technique was brought back to help stop the wave of stabbings and shootings which have claimed the lives of 23 teenagers in London this year.

Laura Richards, who claims it could push marginalised youths into gangs, said the Met had ignored advice from numerous reports, but the force claimed stop and search had taken 1,700 knives off the street since May and had community support.

Ms Richards's study found almost 90 per cent of knife killers had beenknown to police.

She told the BBC: "Not only did we flag up problems, we flagged up solutions. You don't just wake up one morning and kill somebody."

The Met said stop and search was part of a wider strategy.

Comments

Don't Miss
The Glamour Awards - stars turn on the style

Glamour Awards

Stars turn on the style
Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink at her first Buckingham Palace garden party

Garden party

Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink
FIRST review of Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus

First review

Is Ridley Scott's Prometheus any good?
Fair-weather goths

Fair-weather goths

The sultry shades of summer darks are coming out of the shadows
London gets ready for the Diamond Jubilee - in pictures

Diamond Jubilee

London gets ready - in pictures
Dog save the Queen: Corgis surge in popularity

Dog save the Queen

Corgis surge in popularity
'He’s a better ex than he was a husband', says Boris Johnson's ex wife

A better ex than husband

We talk to Boris Johnson's ex wife
TV Baftas - in pictures

Best of the Baftas

Stars on the red, white and blue carpet
You big softie: Has Giles Coren put down his poison pen?

You big softie

Has Giles Coren put down his poison pen?
Pop star Paloma Faith, former Labour minister and Tory blogger back gay marriage video

Gay marriage

Pop star, former Labour minister and Tory blogger back gay marriage video