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Paddick: I'll target knives on day one
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent22.01.08
Lib-Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has pledged to start getting knives and guns off the streets of London on his first day in office.
The former Lambeth police commander said he would meet Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair within 24 hours if he wins the 1 May poll.
Mr Paddick, 49, wants to bring in more intelligence-led stop and searches and to look at the Met's disproportionate focus on black drivers, which he says makes the police distrusted.
Met figures show only one in eight stop and searches is made for knives and one in 60 for guns. The majority are of drivers suspected of carrying drugs or stolen property. Mr Paddick made his pledge to mark the last 100 days of the mayoral campaign.
"We need to appeal to Londoners to work together with the police to identify the knife and gunmen, so the police can accurately target stop and search on criminals," he said. "But this will only happen if the public trust the police."
Reader views (3)
Isn't carrying a knife in public already illegal with a possible 4-yr jail sentence?
The police and judiciary simply need to enforce the existing law with proper jail sentences instead of fines, ASBOs and suspended sentences.
- Sarah, London
A great pity he did not do more about this when he was a serving police officer.
- Patrick Griffin, Dalston
Yeah. Righto. Why didn't he do anything about it when he was paid to as Police Commander?
- Squiz, Islington
