Stop and search in England and Wales

About 4m stops a year 853,188 searches a year Black people five times more likely to be stopped than white people Its use plummeted after Lawrence inquiry

Mr Smyth said stop and search had been tried before and did not work.

"It was very corrosive to police/public relations. It caused more conflict than any other single policing operation," he told BBC News.

But Mr Blunkett believes the new guidelines will give officers the confidence they have government backing.

"There has been quite a dramatic drop [in the number of stop and searches] over the last two years," said the home secretary.

"Ironically, the proportion of that small number who are black or Asian has risen."

Crime hotspots

He added that the "vast majority" of violent crime was black on black.

"We need to be honest about it and we need to do something about it," he said.

The measures are designed to give police confidence to stop members of the public without being accused of racism - but would lead to extra red tape for officers.

The five crime hotspots

Camberwell Green in Southwark, south London Bristol's Stapleton Road Stoke-on-Trent's Grange Estate; Little Horton and Canterbury in Bradford The West Ward in Rhyl

Mr Blunkett has named five communities with high crime levels which are to become the first "policing priority areas".

Officers currently record details when they stop and search someone but these are not passed onto the person searched.

If a person is stopped without being searched, details may not be recorded at all.

Under the new guidelines, police would issue what the Home Office calls a "simple" form, explaining the reasons for the stop.

A spokeswoman said the form would "demonstrate that it is a useful power that's not being used in a discriminatory way, which has been the complaint in the past".

Mr Blunkett hopes police will start using stop and search - which he described as a "crucial tool" - more to target potential suspects in certain key areas.

'Racial bias'

He told the House of Commons: "We are revising the police and criminal evidence code on stop and search to ensure that we protect those members of the community who are most vulnerable from those who are most violent."

David Blunkett's endorsement will have no bearing on whether I stop and search someone today. Tony Smith, police officer, Brixton

To read more of your comments, click here

Forces will be told to set up panels of community representatives to scrutinise stop and search records and check that ethnic minorities are not targeted disproportionately.

The Home Office is launching a 10-week consultation on the measures before beginning trials.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin described the measures as a "good initiative".

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said: "Provided questioning [of suspects] is based on reasonable suspicion, the policy should be supported."

Macpherson inquiry

The new guidelines for stops and searches are known as Code A of the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

David Blunkett wants stop and search to be more targeted

They are based on the recommendation of the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence which ruled the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist".

The number of stop and searches by police overall fell 17% last year, following a fall of 21% the previous year. In the Met, the figure last year dropped 40% on the previous 12 months.

Last year police in England and Wales stopped and searched 853,188 people, according to Home Office figures.

Officials say there are no estimates of the number of stops carried out, but it is thought to be in the region of four million.