Greenwich and Bexley

The Police tactic of Stop and Search has always been controversial. Recently the outgoing chair of the National Black Police Association Keith Jarrett said there should be more stop and search carried out to tackle gun and knife crime.

Last year, a conference was held in Catford by the Lewisham Community Police Consultative Group (LCPCG) to see how the practice should change. 125 people attended including Lewisham Police, community and youth groups.

- Good respectful, fair practice in Stop and Search encounters.

- Ensuring strong grounds for Stop and Search.

- Use of targeted and intelligence led Stop and Search.

- Involvement of communities in the use of Stop and Search.

-Involvement of young people in Stop and Search Police training.

The findings were presented at a public meeting in Lewisham Civic Centre, Catford chaired by Gordon Glean, chair of the LCPCG stop and search group.

Superintendent Ian Mill From Lewisham Police said the police would take on board all the recommendations.
He spoke of a new scheme involving community youth project For Real who will soon begin working with Police officers who must carry out Stop and Search.

In a lively discussion, people spoke of their personal and family experiences of Stop and Search. One young lady said: "Stop and search can be my best friend or my worst enemy."

Meeting in Lewisham Town Hall

The comments by the Keith Jarrett were mentioned by several people at the meeting who all agreed his comments did nothing for the debate.

David Michael, the LCPCG chair said his comments were not helpful and people must remember the history of Stop and Search in this country.

Some other young people spoke about how this kind of community work needs to be better communicated to the youth. Only a minority of young people go to such meetings at a Town Hall. There needs to be a more concerted effort, they suggested, to talk to young people on their level. One idea was to set up a Facebook or MySpace site telling young people about Stop and Search.

“If Facebook can bring the Wispa chocolate bar back in the shops, think what it can do for us!!“ exclaimed Philip Udeh from the Race Equality Action group.