Police should dramatically increase the use of stop and search to combat spiralling gang violence, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith demands today.
A ‘toxic cycle of serious violence’ fuelled by drug dealers who operate ‘with impunity’ is spreading around the country, a major report by the Conservative MP’s think-tank warns.
The 148-page blueprint – which will heap pressure on London Mayor Sadiq Khan just days after the number of killings in the capital this year reached 100 – calls for a US-style crackdown on gang leaders.
Police should dramatically increase the use of stop and search to combat spiralling gang violence, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith demands today. Pictured: The scene in Camberwell where emergency services respond to a mass stabbing incident
The report advocates the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) model used in Boston, Cincinnati and dozens of other US cities, and which has successfully reduced gang crime in Glasgow. Pictured: a man is seen getting arrested at Notting Hill Carnival
The 148-page blueprint – which will heap pressure on London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured) just days after the number of killings in the capital this year reached 100 – calls for a US-style crackdown on gang leaders
In what will be seen as a criticism of Theresa May, the report accuses senior officers of all but abandoning ‘active policing’ – including stop and search – because they fear being accused of institutional racism.
As Home Secretary, Mrs May led moves to slash the use of police search powers, warning they were being misused and black people and other ethnic minorities were up to seven times more likely to be targeted.
But the report says the ‘racial disparity’ is a myth.
The report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), entitled It Can Be Stopped, also says:
- A gun is fired illegally every six to nine hours in London;
- The Metropolitan Police used stop and search 700,000 times a year in 2008, but last year this figure stood at just over 100,000. As a result, about 54,000 fewer criminals have been arrested;
- Almost half of Londoners say there are ‘no-go areas’ near where they live that they cannot go to or travel through;
- Nearly three-quarters support police stop and searches;
- Ministers should provide more money for community policing;
- The Government should introduce a new order which allows convicted gang leaders to be stopped and searched by the police after their release from prison, while they are on licence, even if there is no concrete evidence against them.
Mr Duncan Smith, the CSJ’s chairman and founder, told the Daily Mail: ‘Stop and search does two things. It tells the gangs they cannot move their guns and drugs around, making their lives much more difficult.
‘People claim, “it’s not fair”, but who are the communities affected by this the most? It’s the poorest communities in our country. It means shops close, people don’t go on the street, kids who want nothing to do with the gang feel threatened.’
CSJ chief executive Andy Cook added: ‘If a gun were fired every day in rural Oxfordshire or leafy Surrey, every police resource in the country would be focused on bringing the violence to an end.
A ‘toxic cycle of serious violence’ fuelled by drug dealers who operate ‘with impunity’ is spreading around the country, a major report by the Conservative MP’s think-tank warns. Pictured: Stop and search near Harrow Road entrance to the Notting Hill Carnival
‘And yet because this epidemic of crime is happening in our poorest, often most ethnic diverse communities, politicians feel they can turn a blind eye and pray that it all just goes away.
‘Measures such as stop and search work. Young offenders we talked to say it acted as a very real deterrent to carrying knives.’
The report advocates the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) model used in Boston, Cincinnati and dozens of other US cities, and which has successfully reduced gang crime in Glasgow. The plan involves ‘zero tolerance’ enforcement by the police, increased use of stop and search, and providing support services including housing, education and jobs for young people involved in gangs.
In Glasgow – once dubbed the ‘murder capital of Europe’ – violent crime fell by half and the number of criminals carrying weapons by 85 per cent, the report says.
Mrs May has cited figures suggesting that people from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds are ‘up to seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than if they are white’. But the report says the true racial disparity is in the victims of crime. The authors point to figures showing a non-white 15 to 25-year-old is four times more likely to be fatally shot and killed than a white person of the same age.
Stop and search, it concludes, is ‘the single most effective and immediate action to increase the chances that those who carry knives and weapons on the street are caught’. Pictured: The scene where a 23-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in Lambeth
Stop and search, it concludes, is ‘the single most effective and immediate action to increase the chances that those who carry knives and weapons on the street are caught’.
Mr Duncan Smith said the GVI model meant officers would ‘harass the hell’ out of gang leaders and make their lives impossible, while voluntary groups and government agencies could help youngsters get off the streets and back on the straight and narrow.
One London police officer told the report’s authors: ‘It really is a tale of two cities. You can have bullet holes left in someone’s bedroom window. Half the estate know it happened.
‘The other half – young professionals and the like – live in their bubble and don’t know anything even happened.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Knife crime has devastating consequences on our communities, and our Serious Violence Strategy signals a step change in the Government’s approach by working with a range of agencies to focus on early intervention alongside strong law enforcement.
‘We have been clear that stop and search is a vital policing tool and officers have the Government’s full support to use these powers.’
Stabbing next to ‘knife free’ poster
On London’s blood-soaked streets, it is a bitterly ironic image.
On the left, a poster aimed at reducing knife crime among young people. Yards away, a police officer mans a cordon after the ‘senseless’ stabbing death of a 22-year-old man.
On the left, a poster aimed at reducing knife crime among young people. Yards away, a police officer mans a cordon after the ‘senseless’ stabbing death of a 22-year-old man. Pictured: The scene on Creek Road in Deptford, south London, where a young man was stabbed to death
The striking photograph was captured after Scotland Yard launched their 101st murder investigation this year. The victim was attacked in Deptford, south-east London, late on Saturday night by a gang of men. Police found him collapsed by the side of a bus shelter at 11.45pm.
The poster is part of a £1.35 million Home Office campaign to target ten to 21-year-olds in cities where knife crime is particularly prevalent. The posters, featuring real-life stories of young men and women who nearly lost their lives, are intended to promote living ‘knife free’.