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Police stop-and-search branded 'illegal'
5 Feb 2009Harsh stop-and-search measures designed to drive knives off the streets were branded "illegal" today.
The Metropolitan Police launched an unprecedented crackdown on knives last year in the aftermath of a wave of fatal teenage stabbings.
But one member of the force's watchdog body told senior officers today that the tactic, known as Operation Blunt, has gone too far.
Jenny Jones, Green member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), said politicians did not realise how extensively special stop-and-search powers would be used.
She said the continued use of the potentially inflammatory sweeping Section 60 powers risks alienating young people and turning communities against the police.
Speaking at a meeting of the MPA today, she said: "The use of stop-and-search goes beyond the extent that the laws were envisaged when it went through the Houses of Parliament.
"It was not envisaged to be something used over a continuous period of time and over a large area.
"I would call that illegal because it is not as the law was envisaged when it was passed."
But acting Assistant Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick, who is responsible for the operation, said it is successfully reducing knife violence.
She said: "We did not embark on what we knew would be the very extensive use of stop-and-search in Operation Blunt without taking legal advice first.
"We were very clear that we could only work within the law and that is what we have done."
The row came as figures showed knife crime has continued to fall since the tactic was launched last May.
Knife crime involving young people has fallen by 22% between April and November last year compared with the previous year (3,345 to 2,841).
Meanwhile, more knife crimes are solved as more than nine out of 10 people suspected of knife-related offences are charged.
Ms Fitzpatrick said: "All efforts continue to prevent these fatal assaults in the coming months by a continuing focus on lethal weaponry and the small minority that engage in serious violence."
The stop-and-search operation involves teams of officers using search wands and metal detector arches in busy streets and at transport hubs.
Up to 50 officers go out between 3.30pm and 10.30pm each day targeting areas where young people gather, including outside schools.
Police have also targeted 27 specific gangs known to be linked to knife violence across 14 boroughs since last November.
Speaking from his office last week, Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said he will continue to back the controversial measure.
Reader views (10)
The innocent majority wants more searches. It's no inconvenience to us.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, 06/02/2009 09:07
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i bet Ms Jones views would have a sudden change if she had a stanley blade slashed across her face and her bag taken by some hooded thug! These bleeding heart liberal do-gooders need to get a healthy dose of reality, and realise that it is the namby-pamby attitudes of the past 20 years that have created this culture of violence, without suitable punishment.
- Gary, amersham, 06/02/2009 08:40
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novel conception of illegal - legal, but not as envisaged by politicians when the law was passed.
- Alembic, United Kingdom, 06/02/2009 08:14
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We must give police more power or the crimnimal will be biger than us. The police should continue check and search to make our street safer.
- Sue, London, 06/02/2009 02:01
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Jenny Jones lives in a Mickey Mouse world !
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 06/02/2009 00:00
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Jenny Jones is so predictable - she should talk to the victims of knife crime - not support the suspects
- Gb, Pimlico London, 05/02/2009 22:33
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Stop and search is absolutely necessary. If the police stopped and searched me, I would not object. Why should I?
- Rollo, London, 05/02/2009 21:42
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...Could the evening standard confirm that Jenny Jones lives in the same London as the rest of us, or does she, like our cossetted home secretary, sport a stab vest and police escort every time she goes out?...
- Joannie, London, England, 05/02/2009 21:02
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I welcome the police cracking down on knife crime. If you do not have a knife there is nothing to worry about. It will make criminals think twice about carrying. This will help to make the streets safer and protect innocent victims.
- Maggie, London, 05/02/2009 17:20
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Jenny Jones presumably has never experienced knife crime. Until the carrying of knives is totally eradicated, the police should continue their operations.
- Patrick Griffin, Dalston, London, 05/02/2009 17:15
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