In 2014, a young undergraduate at Warwick University, Alexander Paul, was invited by Theresa May, the Home Secretary at the time, to address the Conservative Party conference on his experience of ‘stop and search’ (see his speech below). He had been stopped over 20 times in South East London which he said on occasions made him feel ‘vilified’. He went on to share figures of how the abused stop and search policy was not very effective in finding illicit drugs/weapons and was disproportionately used against young people of colour. His testimony had some influence on the reforms that the Home Office introduced in 2015.
Here we are 10 years on from the conference and in a recent research on the stop and search policy the same concerns are repeated. How effective is the stop and search policy? A report prepared by Jon Yates of the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has echoed some of the views shared by Alexander Paul in that the ‘stop and search’ policy is not so effective and has only a 5% rate in stopping crime. He shared that ‘other tactics – such as community-led focused deterrence, putting more officers on the streets in troubled areas or mentoring and diversion for potential suspects – produced bigger cuts in violence’. (Read the Guardian article: Stop and search study in England and Wales ‘casts doubt’ on effectiveness)
Upon reading the report by Vikram Dodd in the Guardian, it brought back a memory of a child TV series that many of us watched in the sixties, ‘Dixon of Dock Green’. The show was based around a friendly community bobby (endearing name for a community policeman) and the crimes he had to tackle. He was a father figure to young children, approachable, caring and loved by the community. He was neither tough or soft but smart, as quoted by Jon Yates of YEF this should be the approach of the police. I believe there is some merit in going back to community policing as it does develop confidence in law enforcement from youths who could be encouraged from turning to crime. If we educate the young and build better relationships in the community with figures of authority, it might just help to reduce the incidents of youth crimes that we are currently having in our communities.
Synergy Network Coordinator
August 2024
Alexander Paul address to the Conservative Party conference 2014
Alexander Paul – Conservative Party conference 2014 (PDF)